A Special Friend
by mataulvr
Summary: Paige a photogragher keeps getting into worst scene serio. But shewas always saved. But on one night where she is being attacked by a man she is saved by a strange man But what she doesn't know is that he is abeing from another planet. Will love bloom?
1. Chapter 1

" …the city has been destroyed beyond all imagination but all government officials are telling us its is finished… whether you believe that or not that is for you to decide" the news for the day ended and a 25 year old woman with brown blond hair sighed. She shook her head.

"If only it were true" she whispered, she hated the media, they always told lies. That girl was named with Paige, she was a striking young woman, with brown eyes. She had a shapely body, one that could turn the heads of most men. She headed toward the kitchen, there she dropped of her breakfast dishes. Then she headed toward the shower, it was time to get ready for work. Once out of the shower she grabbed a nice pair of jeans and one of her tight fitting t-shirts. One look in the mirror told her she looked fine. Some mascara and lip gloss was then slapped on and she was ready to face the day.

Paige grabbed her keys and headed down, her apartment was located on the bottom floor and so no elevator was needed. She then checked her watch- she was going to be late. With a sigh she ran out and headed for her car. Unfortunately for her car, a beat up Honda, was stuck. Two huge trucks had her car caged in; she couldn't back up or move forward. Paige sighed, now she was going to have to run… oh goodie. Paige was the sportsy type but running to work wasn't exactly the best thing at the moment, she was on a clock…. A seriously messed up clock at the moment.

With that she took of running in the direction of her work. Paige worked for a photo shoot company. Today she had an appointment with three babies… another oh goodie. Trying to get the bundles of joy to sit still, the criers to shut up and the other to look in your direction. That was what was waiting for her at work. Secretly Paige enjoyed the situation she was in. Let her partner take it. Paige took a path down a park road, it was a short cut.

She ran a few minutes more, when finally a prickling sensation filled her entire back and neck, she was being watched. Paige didn't get those feelings often she was fairly sure it was real. She whipped around just in time to see a massive bulk heading towards her…

It was a large burly man, he was masked and his hands were out stretched towards her. Paige screamed… this wasn't good. Paige braced her body for impact but that really didn't help, the man pounded her to the ground, his hands were around her neck, her head banged painfully against the hard pavement. Paige was gasping for breath, the man was trying to keep a firm hold on her neck and he was trying to lift her at the same time. Paige did her part in making it difficult for the man, naturally she lashed out with her hands and feet, she also tried to bite him but he some how had evaded all of her blows, until her fist hit him square in the jaw.

"Bitch" he shouted. His hand pushed down on her neck hard, her head slammed once more onto the pavement. Stars appeared, the one man was now three. She couldn't focus on anything.

"Help!" she managed to scream. The man sighed, this really wasn't working. With one hand he reached into his belt and he pulled out a hand gun.

"Now we could do this quietly or I could shoot your pretty little head off… now shut up!" he hissed. It shut Paige up, alright. "I didn't want do this" he place the gun against her temple.

"Then don't" a gruff, low voice came from behind him. The man looked behind him and screamed. Paige was a little dizzy from lack of air so she thought she was hallucinating when she saw a massive black robot pick up her attacker and throw him roughly away. This had to be a dream. The man was away and now Paige was trying to get up. A large hand propped her up "easy now" his voice made her calmer and she breathed somewhat easier, the man had cut off a lot of air and she was still finding it hard to breathe.

"Thank you" she gasped with what little air she had left.

"Don't talk, I bet it hurts- don't it?" Paige nodded, she decided to look up and see who her savoir was, when she saw she gasped, a large metallic face peered down at her. This was a dream. With that she was enclosed in darkness.

"Damn" the girl had fainted. Ironhide hated having that effect on humans. Now what was he supposed to do? He couldn't leave the human lying on the pavement for others to get at her. He didn't know her name and so he couldn't find where she lived. There was only one choice, he would have to take her with him. With that depressing thought in mind he transformed and grabbed her. She was light and fitted comfortably in his seat. He shut the door softly and filliped on the radio to his favorite station, he then drove off. The rest of the Autobots were going to get a surprise.

Ironhide drove along, he was taking his time, the girl in his seat wasn't in critical condition, all she needed was rest, and an aspirin. The girl slowly turned around in his chair in her unconscious state. Her hand came to rest on his arm rest, it curled around it she was having a dream, any one could tell. It looked like a good dream; she was humming and mumbling a bit. Ironhide turned down the volume of his music and tried to listen to what she was saying. But it was incomprehensible. She looked at peace for the moment, and Ironhide meant to keep it that way. So he drove as quietly as he could, avoiding bumps and pot holes which he normally would have floored over, some days he would even get air time. But that didn't matter at the moment; he just wanted the woman to be comfortable.

It took a while but Ironhide made it back to the Autobot base, it was well hidden in the side of a rocky cliff, far away from any human activity. It was the perfect spot for the autobots, the base was near the top of the cliff, and it required a hidden elevator to get to the base. The elevator could stop at the base or it could go all the way down to the bottom of the cliff. There were the autobot training grounds; there they could walk around in their robot mode without the worry of being seen by humans. Ironhide drove over to the o' so cleverly hidden elevator, which he had installed. The elevator was just a platform which could move up and down the rock face, Ironhide drove onto it and mentally activated the elevator.

It didn't take very long for the elevator to reach the base, a hidden door opened and Ironhide drove on in. once he was in he was greeted by the Autobots, old medical officer. Ratchet, he grunted obviously displeased that Ironhide was back.

"I was just starting to celebrate, I thought you were gone for good" Ratchet said.

Ironhide would have transformed and pounded the crap out of that good for nothing mech but of course he had a human in his cab and that just wasn't possible. "Blow it outta your ass" Ironhide snapped at him.

"What no threats to pummel me?" Ratchet joked. He paused when he noticed that Ironhide wasn't transforming. He frowned at him "Why aren't you shifting?" he asked.

"Well…" Ironhide wasn't sure if telling Ratchet was the best idea, he figured it would be best to tell Optimus first, he was more understanding. He would also be less likely to hurtle hammers, wrenches and other such projectiles in his general direction.

"Spit it out" Ratchet stalked towards him "you didn't somehow break yourself did you? Cause if you did, im gonna make fixing you so painful-"

He was cut off by Ironhide "I didn't break my self" how dare he for thinking that, Ironhide took very good care of himself.

"Well then what happened?" Ratchet was growing impatient, he had work to do and Ironhide was being extremely un-co-operative.

Ironhide took in what sounded like a deep breath; he was tense and ready to dodge any oncoming projectiles. "I was driving along, minding my own business, when I passed this lady in the park, she was a victim of a mugging or rape whatever and so I saved her but then she fainted on me and so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, so I picked her up and brought her over here, she's asleep and I think you should give her a check up or something cause when that human was grabbing her he was holding onto her throat real tight she couldn't breathe I think that was what made her faint in the first place so now you gotta check on her. Ok?" Ironhide had said that all with no stopping so it had sounded like one big word. Lucky for him Ratchet had understood him, so a repeat of what was said was not needed.

"ARE YOU INSANE" Ratchet roared after a few moments of silence. The black truck jumped to the side as a massive hammer flew by.

"Insane? I saved her life, and then she fainted, I didn't know what to do with her so I brought her here" Ironhide roared. Not only was he trying to save his paint job but pride as well.

"You could have dropped her off at a hospital of something, why give away our base by bringing a human here!" Ratchet was holding a full arm load of numerous items which he intended to harm Ironhide with.

"Oh" Ironhide hadn't thought of that hospital thing.

"Wazzgoinon" the woman's voice exited the cab.

Paige was feeling very groggy, she was in a small space, which she recognized as the cab of a truck but how she had gotten there she did not know. Slowly she sat up and pulled the lever opening the door, to the truck, she then exited the cab.

Ironhide hadn't expected the human to get out of him, and when she pulled on the handle of the door he hadn't reacted fast enough to keep her caged in him.

"Ah crap" Ratchet stood stock still as the woman looked at him.

"Im still dreaming?" she said, as she looked around the base. "This is so real" Ironhide transformed behind her, she turned around and frowned. "I know you, you saved my life" she paused "is this real?" she asked. No one answered her. She then slapped herself, Ironhide snorted.

"What was that for?" he asked kneeling down.

The woman turned to him and pointed at him "Real" she whispered. Before Ironhide could answer her she fainted.

Ratchet laughed "Well that was certainly amusing" he picked up the woman and examined her in his hand. Ironhide looked over his shoulder, their fight was forgotten.

"Is she gonna be ok?" he asked.

"Yah, she's just a bit stunned and her head took a bit of a beating, all she needs is rest." Ratchet began walking to the med lab, which was just off to the side of the entrance.

The med lab was a big room with computers lining the back wall. Cupboards lined the right side of the wall, they were filled with all sorts of fix it up tools. And in the middle of the room was a big metal table. In the corner there was a door that led to Ratchets private chambers, no one but him had been in there. He placed the girl on the cool metal table, she moaned and turned over.

"Is she coming to?" Ironhide asked. He was crouching so that his face was level with the table.

"No" Ratchet said. He had produced some blankets out of nowhere and placed them on the woman. "You need to report to Optimus"

"Right" Ironhide said glumly. He got up and walked out of the med lab.

Ratchet watched him go and then turned back to the woman; she was snoring, quite loudly. Ratchet smiled at her, and then went back outside of the med lab back to his chores.

Ironhide knocked on the door to Optimus' quarters; the door was opened almost immediately.

"Ironhide?" Optimus' voice was calm and kind but it still commanded authority.

"Sir" Ironhide began "we may have a situation"

Optimus leaned against the door "really?" he asked.

"Well you see sir… I uhm… saved this human, and she fainted before I could make sure she was ok, and I didn't know what to do so I brought her here. Ratchet is taking care of her as we speak"

Optimus frowned "Why didn't you take her to a hospital?" he asked.

Ironhide imagined an arrow going through him, why hadn't he thought of that? "I didn't think about that sir" Ironhide said, he was looking very glum.

Optimus smiled, trying to cheer up the bot before him "I'll talk to her, and we will see what will happen from there"

Optimus sent Ironhide away for a bit, hoping that he would let loose some stress by shooting something. The big robot then walked down the hall towards the med lab. Before he could walk in the room though, Ratchets voice stopped him.

"She is a asleep, and I don't want my patient woken up, thank you very much" his voice sounded bored.

"I will wait then" Optimus leaned against the door; he scanned the woman in the room and made sure that she was truly asleep.

She woke up and hour later moaning and grumbling about randomness. Optimus walked into the room as she sat up. When she noticed him the woman's mouth formed an O and her eyes went wide.

"You, you" she kept repeating just that word.

"My name is Optimus Prime" he walked up to the table and looked down at her. The woman stuttered.

"I-I-I-I"

"I know this is a bit strange for you, but I can explain it all. Just calm down" he could see that she was trying to do so. She had crossed her legs and was gripping her knees tightly. She craned her neck all the way back to look at him. She then took in a deep breath and let it out.

"Wooooo, hooooooo" she made really strange noises, but Optimus was patient. "Ok, I am calm" she told her self. Then with her most professional voice she said "proceed"

"Thank you" Optimus knelt down so she wouldn't have to hurt her neck when looking at him. "As I said my name is Optimus Prime leader of the Autobots, the one that saved you was named Ironhide and the other you saw was Ratchet. Both a good bots and will not harm you, you have no reason to be afraid."

She nodded "Ok" she had let go of her knees and was now rubbing the back of her neck with both hands. "I have a question for you" she said once she was done rubbing her neck.

"You may ask" Optimus said. He was amazed at this woman's ability to adapt. She had gone from a stuttering afraid human to a curious human who took his appearance totally in stride, in a matter of minutes.

"Why are you here, like I mean. Robots, I can totally understand that but what country made you or, are you aliens"

"The latter" Optimus said.

"Aliens?" she rubbed her chin. "I've never met an alien before" she said. "Why are you on earth?" she questioned.

"War. We the autobots are in a war against the decepticons the evil part of our race. And unfortunately the war has been brought to earth." Optimus sounded sad.

"What is the war over?" she asked.

"The Allspark, giver of life" Optimus said simply.

She didn't question him further, this gave Optimus the chance to question her. "What is your name?" he asked genuinely curious.

"Paige Rollen" she said.

"Occupation?" Optimus queried.

"Photographer"

"Like for a newspaper?" Optimus sounded concerned.

"No, a photo gallery, it's like taking pictures of families or their kids." She paused "though sometimes I do a bit of freelance for the newspaper. But if you think I would betray your secret your wrong. First I don't have my camera, second no one would believe me." Paige looked up.

"Thank you for answering my questions" Optimus said.

"No problem" Paige paused "What is going to happen to me?" she asked.

"Someone is going to take you home" Optimus told her.

"Oh" Paige said sadly.

"What is the matter?" Optimus turned his back to her; he was preparing to ask Ironhide if he could drive the human home.

"Nothing, everything is fine!" Paige smiled, when Optimus had left she sighed.

A few minutes later Ironhide came in, when Paige saw him she took an instinctive step backwards but didn't scream.

"I'm not going to hurt you" he said, holding up his hands in a surrender like fashion.

"Your name is Ironhide right?" she had a nice voice; it was a soft musical voice.

"That is correct" he said, wondering where this was going.

"I'm Paige. I-I never got the chance to thank you, for saving me. So thank you" Paige was stuttering, the robot before her was far more menacing that Optimus, in her opinion.

"Your welcome" he said softy, he knew he was intimidating and was trying his best to get rid of that image. He held out his hand for her to climb on "I am to take you home" he told her.

"Oh alright" she took a small step towards him but then she saw the ledge, and the height she was at. She backed up "oooo" she sat down. "Im up high"

Ironhide looked at the small human confused, "are you ok?" he asked.

"I have vertigo" Paige said, "Heights just scare the crap outta me"

"Oh" Ironhide wasn't sure what to do with that. He didn't think that the distance from the top of the table to the floor was all that long. If she had jumped she could have survived easily, only having a few bruises on the backs of her feet. "Why don't you close your eyes and I'll pick you up and move you to the floor.

Paige looked up at him "will it work"?

"Dunno" Ironhide shrugged, had he been human he would have winked at her "but there is only one way to find out" Paige nodded and took in a deep breath.

"Ok" she closed her eyes tight. She then felt large metallic fingers circling around her torso and legs and very slowly she felt her feet leave the ground. She closed her eyes even tighter and held onto Ironhide's hand for dear life. Then it was over. Her feet were back on the ground and she was safe. Paige opened her eyes and saw she was on the ground and was very relieved. She wiped the back of her hand on her forehead and sighed.

She then looked up at Ironhide who was giving her a concerned look. "T-thank you" she stammered. Heights and Paige just didn't go well together.

"Your welcome" Ironhide said softly. The poor woman was terrified, she had been though a great ordeal, with being attacked seeing robots and now having to face her fear of heights. But Ironhide knew it wasn't over, they still had to go on the elevator, up a cliff face.

… oh joy.

Slowly Ironhide led the human out into the docking area, there he watched as the human got a good look at the base for the first time.

"Woah" she breathed. "You guys live here?"

"Yup" Ironhide said proudly, he had been a part of the production of this part of the base, and was happy that his work was appreciated.

It was then Bumblebee walked in, he was carrying Sam. Paige turned her head to look at them and her mouth formed an O.

"Hey, Ironhide, Whose this?" Sam asked, Bumblebee set him on the ground so that he could walk on over to her.

"I'm Paige" she held out her hand for Sam to shake.

"I'm Sam, Nice to meet you" they shook hands, his grip was firm and tight. "How did you get into the base?" Sam asked.

"I brought her in" Ironhide said. He knelt down next to Paige.

"Yah?" Sam smiled at Paige.

"Yup, Ironhide saved me" Paige looked up at Ironhide and gave him a smile.

"And now I'm taking her home" Ironhide said. He made a move to grab her but stopped remembering her fear of heights. "Come on Paige" Paige followed after him obediently but not before waving goodbye to Sam, and Bumblebee. As Paige was walking she stopped and turned to the yellow robot.

"Im sorry, Mr. Robot, I didn't catch your name" she smiled sweetly at him.

"Oh uhm, I'm Bumblebee." He sounded nervous.

"Nice to meet you" Paige gave him a bright smile. She then turned and walked towards Ironhide.

"You're a very open person" he observed.

Paige craned her neck back to look at him "Is that bad?" she asked.

"No" Ironhide paused "Just different"

Once they had reached the opening to the elevator, Ironhide paused and told Paige to stay where she was. He then went over to Ratchet who was cleaning up a pile of tools.

"Hey, Doc…?" Ironhide mumbled.

"Yeah?" Ratchet stood up.

"The human is afraid of heights" Ironhide said softly, he knew their voices carried so he was trying to stay as quiet as possible.

Ratchet took a look at the small woman who was teetering back and forth on her heels trying to keep herself occupied "Uh-huh…" he said not sure how this dilemma affected him.

"If I knocked her out do you think she would mind?" Ironhide asked, he sounded deadly serious.

"Hell yes! She would defiantly mind!" Ratchet hissed. "Your just gonna have to tint you windows or tell her or something!" he raised his hand and poked Ironhide in the shoulder "But you will not harm a human!"

Ironhide slumped his shoulders and sighed "fine…" he then returned to the task at hand and left Ratchet and walked over to the human. He took one last look at her in his robot from and transformed. Once he was a black truck again his door swung open and Paige climbed in. If Paige noticed that the windows were darker than usual she didn't comment. She merely put on her seatbelt and settled into the seat.

The doors to the elevator opened and Ironhide drove forward, as they entered the sunlight the windows darkened even more. Paige kept her eyes forward and did not speak until the lifting sensation she knew quite well was over. Once she felt Ironhide beginning to drive she let out a sigh.

"Thank you…" she mumbled.

"Huh?" Ironhide had been focused on the road and had not heard her properly.

"I said thank you" Paige repeated for him.

"Oh… why?" Ironhide had reached a public road and reached the normal speed.

"Well because you hid the big height stuff from me" Paige said.

"Oh so you noticed…" Ironhide said, had he been in his robot form he would have been rubbing his neck in embarrassment, the thought of wanting to knock her out was making him feel guilty.

"I'm not dumb" Paige said, she had crossed her arms and was looking out the window. "And thank you for no knocking me out…" she grinned and turned to look at the dashboard.

"Oh so you heard that…" Ironhide felt even guiltier now.

"Well it's the thought that counts" Paige said, she shrugged it off.

They drove in silence for a while until Paige broke it:

"So… in the group of the Autobots what do you do?" she fiddled with the seatbelt while she asked her question.

"Well I'm the weapons specialist" he sounded pleased with himself.

"Do you make guns?" Paige queried.  
"Yes…" Ironhide wasn't sure where she was taking this.

"Do you make human sized guns?" Paige began to fiddle with her hair she twisted her long blond hair until it could not longer be twisted.

"Yeah I've made some for the army." Ironhide knew now where she was going "But I don't make any for non-army people" Paige pouted, "look what ever happened to you today, I don't think its gonna happen again, you don't need a gun"

Paige let out a big sigh "I suppose" she slumped into her seat. After a moment she said "I'm hungry"

Ironhide looked at the time, it was well past lunch time so her hunger was understandable. He pulled up a GPS search and found that a Denny's was close by. Since the human was in his charge for the moment he figured her had might as well tend to her needs. He pulled into the Denny's and allowed her to get out, Paige stretched and breathed in the fresh air, but then she froze and turned on her heel to face the black truck.

She knew she would look insane but she spoke all the same "I don't have any money" she said.

"Ah…" was all Ironhide said for a few moments. Then the door to his cab opened and a man stepped out. Paige had a very delayed reaction and jumped as he walked and stopped to stand in front of her.

"Woah…" Paige said, she reached forward and touched his arm, she felt flesh. "WOAH!" she shouted. "Cool!" her other hand reached out and she grabbed his shoulder. Ironhide's eyebrow lifted and he watched as the human felt at his arms.

"Ahem…" he tried to distract her, from his holoform but she was in too much of awe to hear him. "Hey Paige" Ironhide said, she looked up at him but kept her hands on his arms. "Ever heard of a personal space bubble?" Ironhide smiled sweetly at her.

Paige got his drift and let got of him she looked down at the ground "Sorry"

Ironhide put a hand on her forehead and winked at her "S'ok" he said. He then walked off into the Denny's and Paige followed after him.

Once seated Ironhide watched amazed as the human before him ordered a milkshake, three pancakes, four sausages, a bowl of cereal, and a French toast. As she ate he blinked and watched in amazement.

It was his turn to say "Woah…" Paige looked up at him a sausage sticking out of her mouth.

"Wha?" she swallowed and wiped the grease form her mouth, then she reached fro her milkshake and slurped some of it down. When she noticed Ironhide still staring at her she offered one of her pancakes but he shook his head.

Ironhide continued to stare at the woman until a question popped up in his head "Why aren't you fat?"

Paige dropped her toast and looked away, he saw her go red "I dunno, cause I get exercise and other stuff like that"

Ironhide knew he had hit a subject that offended her and mumbled "sorry"

Paige shrugged and shook her head "It's my problem not yours. I just love to eat"

At the end of her meal Ironhide found out just how much she loved to eat and just how much Denny's loved to charge for their food. He sighed and thanked Primus that he did not have to eat human food.

They left in silence, Paige waddled her way to the truck, being stuffed with food she found it difficult to walk. Ironhide followed after her. When he had reached his car form he disappeared and the truck was started. Once Paige had flopped down into the seat she felt the seatbelt snake around her bloated body. She turned her head slightly to look at the steering wheel and laughed.

"Thank you" she smiled brightly.

"No problem" from his voice it sounded as if he were smiling.

The drove to Paige's work, she occasionally gave directions and soon enough they were at their destination.

"Well…" Paige said, she had unbuckled her seatbelt and was leaning forward in her seat. "Thank you once again for saving me" she paused.

Ironhide watched the woman; she seemed to be struggling with something "Are you ok?" he asked.

"No I'm not" Paige said, she put her hands on her hips.

"Are you still in pain from the attack? If so I can contact Ratchet…" she waved him to silence.

"No its not that," she hesitated "I just haven't repaid you yet" she let out a big sigh.

"Huh? Repay me?" Ironhide sounded as confused as he really was.

"Yeah, you saved my life and bought me lunch and drove me to work, I need to repay you" Paige rested her elbow on her knee and her head on her hand.

"There is no need…" Ironhide made a pitiful attempt to stop the woman.

"No I have to; this is a matter of pride." Paige said she had sat up and was apparently thinking quite hard. "Do you have a place where I can contact you?" Paige asked.

"Uh yeah" he gave her the Autobots email, which he figured was a safe thing to do, she seemed trustworthy enough to trust with their secret.

"Alright" Paige smiled. She patted the hood "I'll be in touch soon" he said. Then she left while Ironhide was left to wonder what surprise he would get from her.

.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Ironhide!" Ratchet called Ironhide into the monitor room where as the name stated there was a large monitor. "You have an email" Ratchet told him smirking "From that girl you saved"

"Paige?" Ironhide said walking into the room. "She did say that she was going to send me something…" Ironhide said looking curious. Ratchet handed him over the controls of the monitor and saw and expert from a newspaper in his inbox. Above the page was a message from Paige.

It read '_Dear Ironhide, thanks once again for saving me. I won't ever forget it. I was thinking about ways to thank you when I came up this idea. Let's just say if this were a real newspaper this would be front page stuff. Thanks once again. _

_Paige' _

Ironhide scrolled down and saw a picture of his car mode, he was sure the picture was not of him but rather was meant to represent him. He read through the article which he immediately recognized as Paige's style of writing when compared to her above message. The news article was of his daring rescue and how Ratchet had fixed her up. It was very well written and was an acceptable thank you in Ironhide's opinion. He gave a satisfied grunt and saved the message. Then he turned to Ratchet who had also read the message.

Ratchet was giving him a strange look, "What?" Ironhide asked his anger flaring for a moment.

Ratchet shook his head "Nothing" he said shrugging. He walked past Ironhide and proceeded to walk to the med lab. Ironhide stared after him looking completely and utterly confused.

Paige was feeling the same confusion that Ironhide was feeling at the same moment. She watched in dismay as her car was being attached to a tow truck.

"B-But why?" she asked, running up to the man attaching her truck to the hook.

"This your car ma'm?" he asked with a slight accent.

"Yes!" Paige nodded.

"Well It's the bank's now. I'm gonna need you ta sing this, If you please" he handed her a clipboard which Paige took.

She read it over with narrowed eyes "It says I haven't paid my car payments…" she looked up at the man, "But I paid them last week!" she protested.

"Look ma'm don't complain ta me. It's my superiors ya got'ta deal with. I just pick up the cars" he said as he tugged on the cable connecting the two cars.

Paige looked at him with desperation "But sir-"

He cut her off, Impatience evident in his voice "Ma'm just sign the damn thing!" he said angrily. Paige gave him one last look of desperation but did as he had told her. Her final looks upon her old beat up car were sad ones. She watched as the tow truck driver took the clipboard, then with out another word he gave her an apologetic tip of the hat and walked to the driver's side of the tow truck, got in and drove away.

Paige stared after them for a moment and then realized that she needed to get to work, she swore. Paige was turning towards the park thinking she would take the short cut when suddenly she had the images of herself being attacked once more. Paige felt the bruises around her neck, they had developed a few hours after the attack and it seemed that they were not going to fade away. Paige looked towards the park which had once looked pleasant, it now looked dark and menacing and Paige did not want to walk through it again. Paige didn't trust cab's, after watching a C.S.I New York that was about a serial killer who drove a cab she never stepped inside one of those yellow things again. It seemed as if she had no way of getting to work with out having hell to pay.

Paige gave out a sigh and pulled out her cell phone, she flipped open the dark blue device and called her boss.

He picked up on the second ring "Yellow" he said.

"Uh, hey boss, It me Paige" Paige said.

"Paige! What can I do for you?" he asked sounding cheerful.

"Well uh sir, I'm afraid I can't come to work today" Paige said.

"Why's that hon'?" he asked.

"Well I'm sick you see…" she coughed for good measure.

"Aww… well you're not coming over here, I don't want your sick germs" he said with a small chuckle "Get some rest hon'" he told her.

"Thanks" Paige said, she twitched when he hung up, Paige hated lying but she figured that she might as well get this business about her car sorted out and would take the day off to do so. Her reason for lying was her fear of her explanation being not a good excuse so she figured pretending to be sick would have to do. Paige flipped her cell phone close and with another long sigh, she walked back into her apartment.

Once inside she threw all her things on the ground, Paige was never one for neatness, her apartment was littered with little candy wrappers, clothes and other things she could throw around. Her walls were plastered with pictures of flowers, she had a strange fascination with plants and if she had her own yard she would have a huge garden. There was one huge picture that hung over the mantle of her electric fireplace, It was a picture of an Iris her favorite plant. The picture had a gold frame and she dusted it regularly. All around the house were small plants, Paige had somehow managed to keep Bonsai trees alive all throughout the house, they were hard plants to take care of but she managed it well.

Paige let out another sigh; even her plants could not cheer her up as she sat upon her couch in a huff. Paige picked up the phone and looked at it for a moment.

She then let out a giant yell of frustration "Ahhh!" she threw the phone on the ground in a huff- she had forgotten which towing company took her car. Paige let out another angry growl and got up, she found a phone book and began leafing through the pages to try and find the number to her car insurance company.

A few hours later Paige was nowhere, she had been put on hold seven times and had been forced to listen to crappy elevator music through her phone. The car company had sent out a tow truck and she had gotten their number and called them but they had told her in order to get her car back she had to call her car insurance company and ask them to do it. So Paige had called them again and they had told her that they needed a check for her monthly payment before she could get her car back. She was then directed to a manager who she angrily explained to telling him she had already sent in her payments for the month. He had told her in a monotonous voice that they would wait a few more days to see if the check had gotten lost in the mail and if they did not get it within a week she would lose her car.

Paige hung up the phone angrily she had to wait now for her car to be returned to her. Paige knew she could not pretend to be sick for the entire week so she sat back and thought. Then and idea popped into her mind, why not ask Ironhide?

Paige now feeling very giddy rushed to her computer and quickly opened up her email, there she clicked new and was about to type when she paused. She blinked for a few moments and then banged her head on the desk, hard. He was a super advanced robot; he probably had better things to do then drive her to work. Paige let out a groan and looked at the screen, she sighed and shrugged. It couldn't hurt to ask….

Ironhide was sitting in the monitor room bored as hell. He had been assigned to monitor duty; in this job he was to scan the surrounding area for Decepticon activity, and well there were no Decepticons in sight. Ironhide was secretly plotting to leave for a little bit and shoot something down in the training area when suddenly a little box popped up in the corner of the screen saying he had an email from Paige.

Intrigued he opened the email and read,

The letter went like so: '_Dear Ironhide. Hey how are you doing? Well I'm fine… no wait that's a lie. See the thing is my car just got taken away cause the stupid mail man lost my car payment in the mail and so the bastards took my car away and now here I am… well…carless. So I'm just writing to ask, if you could lend a girl a hand and give her a ride? Your allowed to say no, it wont hurt my feelings, seeing as you're a robot with the world to save, you obviously have better things to do… but just figured I ask. _

_Thanks, Paige.'_

Ironhide read the letter over a few times smiling softly at the small human's colorful language. Once done reading he felt like cheering, anything was better for monitor duty, anything. Ironhide silently thanked the small human and rushed out to find Optimus, once he had found the red and blue bot he made a small sound which sounded like a cough to get the big Autobot's attention.

"Yes Ironhide?" he asked turning around from his work. He had been in the lounge and was trying to figure out how to work the T.V.

"Uh sir, I just got an email from the small human named Paige" Ironhide said.

"Yes…" Optimus said.

"Well her car was taken away because her car payment was lost in the mail and now she has no ride to work and has requested my help" Ironhide told him.

Optimus nodded "Then go help the young woman" he said. "I'll tell Bumblebee he needs to take over your shift on the monitor"

Ironhide smirked slightly and nodded "Thank you sir" He then rushed back to the monitor room to write Paige to tell her he would be there soon.

Paige was on the couch wallowing in her misery, she had half a pint of vanilla ice-cream to eat and while doing so she watched a cheesy soap opera. She was going to be fired because she could not get to work, she was going to lose her car and then because she lost her job she was going to be kicked out of her apartment because she didn't have any money, all her plants would die and she would die a homeless person with a shopping cart filled with her trash and-

Her misery was cut off by a small noise that came from her computer; it was a noise that signaled she had a new email message. Paige snapped up and with a spoon sticking out of her mouth she rushed towards the computer and saw she had a new message from Ironhide.

It read _'Fortunately for you I don't have anything better to do. I be around soon and drive you to work. _

_Ironhide' _

Short, sweet and her savior. Paige ripped the spoon from her mouth not minding the small splatter of ice-cream that fell out of her mouth to land on the desk.

"Yes! Thank you Ironhide" she giggled hysterically, she wasn't going to die homeless! Paige fell back onto her couch and let out another laugh. She stayed silent for a moment and then sat straight up. Ironhide didn't know where she lived….

Ironhide was driving towards town when he realized that he had no idea where Paige's home was. He let out a little mechanical sigh and pulled over, then opening up her last email he traced it to an apartment building, he figured that if he parked there Paige would see him and he wouldn't have to go to her door and pick her up. Ironhide started his engine once more and began to drive to the apartment building.

Paige was pacing franticly, she had forgotten to tell him where she lived, sure he knew where her work was, but what help was that? She held onto her head in frustration and paced some more. Paige walked past her window and saw a busy street, a black truck, a lady walking with her five smallish dogs, a hot dog stand- wait a black truck? Paige curiously walked over to her window and pressed her face against it. She looked at the truck for a second longer and then rushed outside. She walked on over to the truck which seemed inanimate and gave it a small kick.

"Hey!" Ironhide's voice came softly from the inside of the truck, "Is that how you humans treat others who help you?" Ironhide said with a hint of amusement entering his voice. Paige felt like throwing her hands up in the air and screaming for joy, instead she held up one of her fingers and waggled it in his direction.

"Just wait for a few seconds, gotta grab my stuff" she rushed back in the apartment, grabbed her things and her shoes and ran back outside.

She opened the passenger side door and crawled in. once she was in the door automaticly closed and the seatbelt snaked its way around her torso. Paige gave out a small yell as she felt the seat belt go around her body.

"Sorry" Ironhide apologized "Safety first" he told her, "I didn't mean to alarm you."

"Its ok" Paige gave the dash a pat and settled back into her seat. She opened up the little flap above the front window that held a mirror and made sure she looked alright. Paige gave off a little disgusted grunt as she saw that her hair was all messy up and hanging out of its pony-tail. She pulled the little elastic out of her hair and brushed her fingers through her dark blond hair a few times and put the elastic back in. Once she deemed her hair acceptable she closed the flap.

She stayed silent for a moment and then peered at the steering wheel "thank you Ironhide" she said with a quiet voice "you really saved my butt" she told him.

Ironhide let of a little chuckle which made the cab vibrate "I think I saved more than your butt, but rather your entire body" he told her.

Paige shook her head "you haven't heard of that saying have you?" she asked with a slight laugh in her voice. Ironhide noticed that she had a dimple on her left cheek, he thought it made her look younger and more child like.

"I've heard of it, but it doesn't make sense to me" Ironhide said.

"Ah" Paige said, "Should I explain it, or leave it"

Ironhide wishing to hear her speak said "Explain it" he said.

"Well," Paige said "When someone says that, when referring to their butt it actually refers to their whole body, which could be both physically and spiritually."

"Then why not say body?" Ironhide asked turning a corner.

Paige thought for a moment "Tell me, which fits better: 'you saved my butt' or 'you saved my body'?" she asked.

Ironhide paused "Ah" he said "I get it" he gave off another chuckle and said "Well your welcome for saving your butt." Paige laughed as Ironhide pulled to a stop "Here we are" he said.

Paige grabbed all her things and blew the steering wheel a kiss "Thanks again Ironhide" she stepped out, but before she closed the door she leaned back in and said "if you could pick me up after work that would be nice" she told him a hopeful smile on her face.

"I was going to drive you home anyways" Ironhide told her. "What time do you get off?" he asked.

"Around three. But I could be a little later cause I'm late and all" Paige winked at him and rushed off to work. Ironhide settled down and let off a happy sigh, this, he thought, was much better than monitor duty.

As the day progressed Ironhide amused himself by watching the daily lives of humans. He watched as a pick pocket attempt was foiled and resulted in fist fight. Ironhide thought it was incredibly generous as the would be robber sported a bloody nose and the would be victim of a robbery who had a black eye helped each other to the nearby hospital. Ironhide then watched as a hot dog stand owner left his stall to chase after a dog which had stolen some of his prized hot dogs, this had left the stand wide open and Ironhide watched amused as a bunch of teenagers helped themselves to the hot dogs. A police car passed but Ironhide paid it no attention, police cars were a common sight, besides an old lady was being far more interesting. She kept stopping, she then would raise her head and pulled an expression which suggested she needed to sneeze and then after a few moments she would lower her head to continue on a few steps only to stop, look up and look as if she needed to sneeze again. Another police car passed.

Ironhide watched as a couple stopped near his cab, they were bickering.

"I saw you with him" The man was poking the lady in the shoulder.

"You saw nothing" the lady hissed poking him back.

"I did"

"You did not!" she screeched.

"Did" he muttered.

"Didn't "the couple had moved on, and Ironhide moved his observation over to a young lad who seemed was leaned over the door handle, he seemed to be fiddling it with it. Ironhide just figured that he had key trouble, but the way the boy was looking around as if he was doing something he was suspicious, but his thoughts were cut off as Paige reentered his cab.

"Hello Ironhide" she said weakly. Her hair was askew and Ironhide thought she looked dead on her feet.

"What happened to you?" he asked, he waited for a police car to pass him and then drove out of his parking place.

Paige looked at him from the hollows of her eyes and muttered "Kids…" she pointed at the steering wheel "I swear to you, when I have kids and a loving husband, they ain't ever getting sugar" she told him.

Ironhide laughed "I see" he turned a corner "Anything else happen today"

Paige thought for a moment "well all of my co-works stayed clear of me because they thought I was sick, I just told them it was a false alarm, and then I had to take a picture of this family and the husband kept winking at me" she said thoughtfully.

"I thought Husband's were supposed to be loyal to their wife's" Ironhide said as he paused for a red light.

"Well technically they are. That's the rule at least" she sighed "But rules are meant to be broken" she told him.

Ironhide took his optics off the road for a moment and let them rest on Paige, the usually rosy flush from her happy face had lessened and her full lips were in a tight frown. "You talk like you know all about it"

Paige waved her hand "It's a long story" she told him.

Paige's head followed the building that was her apartment as Ironhide drove past it, "I got time" Ironhide told her. "… Unless you have something to do" he said after a moment.

Paige let out a little laugh "No Ironhide. I have nothing to do"

Ironhide drove out of city limits and drove a little further until he found a lookout point and parked there. Paige had remained silent during the trip and Ironhide activated his holoform.

Paige gave a small jump and Ironhide held up his hands "Woah, Whoa. Easy now" he gave her a small reassuring smile and leaned back, his back pressed against the drivers door and her looked at her intently, "Tell me what you know of disloyal husbands" he said crossing his arms.

He looked at her expectantly and Paige sighed "fine…" she muttered. "His name was Bradley"

Ironhide snorted "Sounds like a priss"

Paige let out a laughed and grinned as she continued "Well you hit it dead on, the man ran away from a dog once"

Ironhide tilted his head "why did you stay with him? Shouldn't a man protect his woman?"

Paige sighed "He had said the three magic words"

"Really?" Ironhide said sounding amused. "What were they?"

"'I love you'" Paige laughed a harsh laugh "he said to me and the next day we moved in together. Then a few weeks later I caught him with my sister"

Ironhide cocked his head to the side "I'm still a little new to earth; you 'caught' him with your sister? Please enlighten me."

Paige pouted "He was having sex with my sister." She leaned forward "you understand"

Ironhide nodded "Yup. Please continue"

"Well after that he kept begging and pleading for him to forgive me and I moved out. And that's not the worst of it!" she told him "Three days later at work I caught him doing it with my co-worker" she sat back in a huff, she pouted and looked up at him. "So there you have it" she said.

Ironhide was feeling the sudden overwhelming need to comfort her somehow, he had thought about hugging her but then he wasn't sure how the small female would react to the hug, so instead he decided to use words.

"From what I've seen spending some time with you, I don't understand why he left you."

Paige looked up "Huh?"

"I don't understand why he left you, to humans you are very attractive" _and robots too _he thought "And you seem to have a good head on your shoulders, you seem very loyal and very dedicated to what you do. You have a kindness in your heart and I do not think that Bradley man had his head screwed on right" Ironhide paused and leaned forward, he took one of her hands "He passed up on a good deal"

"You think so?" Paige sniffed and Ironhide grinned at her.

"Positive" he told her.

"Thanks" Paige said, she retracted her hand from his and Ironhide's holoform disappeared.

"Any time" he told her his voice coming from the speakers.

Ironhide drove Paige home and after promising to be there to pick her up in the morning he left.

Inside Paige got ready for bed; she stripped herself of her day clothes and pulled on a night gown that reached her shins. She made herself a quick dinner, not really feeling hungry, which was a first. Then after that she prepared herself for an early sleep, she was tried, so she brushed her teeth and crawled into bed. Five minutes later she was asleep.

And hour later a police car pulled up beside Paige's apartment and a silver metal looking creature crawled out of the cab. This creatures name was Frenzy, a hyper robot who was on a mission. Frenzy walked on in to the building and walked towards the door which would lead to Paige's apartment. The small robot strolled on over and held up his hand, one of his fingers began to morph into a small rod which he then inserted into the lock, then after a few moments of jiggling his hand up and down the door opened.

Frenzy walked into Paige's messy apartment and shut the door softly behind him. He scuttled on towards the living room. Frenzy took one look at the mass of green vegetation in the room and shook his head, he hated plants, they grew in dirt and dirt was hard to clean off his armor, so naturally he had decided anything to do with dirt was something he hated. Frenzy walked into the room giving the plants a wide space. His small head swiveled about; he seemed to be looking for something.

When he spotted the bedroom door he scuttled on towards it and slipped into the room. He saw Paige lying on her bed. She was one her stomach, she hadn't bothered to cover herself with the sheets, it was summer and it was too warm for sheets. One of her shapely smooth legs hung off the bed and Frenzy walked up to it. He wanted to poke it but his orders were not to disturb the human. Paige's breathing was smooth and even, some hair had fallen over her nose and it rose and fell with her breathing.

Frenzy walked around to the side of the bed that Paige was not occupying and crawled on the soft mattress. He was careful not to disturb the human as he walked closer to her. Once he was near her thigh he stopped, he gave the human another look and then activated his scanner. His eyes swiveled over the body of the human female before him, when he had reached her stomach his eyes stopped for a moment, he seemed to focus in on something and then with a small cybertronian swear he stumbled back his sensors turning off abruptly. The small robot backed away from the human before him and then high tailed it out of there.

After narrowly avoiding some plants he reached the door opened it in a rushed haste and closed it as quietly and as quickly as he could. Then he ran back to the police car and climbed in chattering non stop.

"_Gross-disgusting-freaky-human" _he said as the police car drove away _"freaky-freaky-freaky" _


	3. Chapter 3

Paige slept very peacefully that night; she was comfortably warm and had no intention of moving from her comfy spot on the bed anytime soon. She was lying there breathing softly enjoying the warmth in the room when suddenly she heard knocking on her door. Groaning she got up. As she walked towards the door, she hiked up her night gown to her mid thigh and scratched an itch. She then let go of the fabric and allowed it to hang back near her shins.

Paige opened the door with another yawn, she blinked a few times and then Ironhide's holoform came into focus.

She leaned against the door frame and looked up at him through sleep filled eyes "good morning" she said brushing her hair out of her face.

Ironhide gave her a slow and easy smile and said "Good morning to you too." He looked past her into her apartment "You ready for work?" Paige snapped to attention and whipped around to look at the clock on the wall, when she saw the time she swore. Whipping around once more to face Ironhide she looked around the hallway to make sure that no one was watching, she then grabbed his arm and dragged him into the apartment. "What the-"

"Sorry" Paige gave him an apologetic smile "Wait here, I'll get ready" she rushed back into her room and Ironhide looked around her apartment. He saw her massive amounts of flowers and smiled softly.

Ironhide heard Paige rummaging about in her room and spared the opened doorway a quick glance. He saw skin. Paige had forgotten to close her bathroom door as she quickly got undressed for her shower. He just saw her bare back but that was enough for his holoform to feel a human longing. It took all of his self control to pry his eyes away from the human female and continue his observation of the apartment. He walked around and picked up a small shirt which was lying on the ground. It had the words '_Trees are 4 hugging' _on it. Ironhide folded the shirt and draped it across her couch.

He continued his observation and his eyes came to rest upon the picture she had hanging above her fake fireplace. He identified the flower as an Iris, seeing as the picture was the biggest and had the nicest frame Ironhide figured that the Iris was her favorite flower. He looked through her apartment some more, his eyes occasionally drifting towards the open door in which Paige was having a shower.

Paige got out of the shower and looked around the bathroom, she gave out a small curse; she had forgotten to bring her clothes into the bathroom. Quickly she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her wet body. Then she walked into the living room and proceeded to look for some clothes to wear. Ironhide blinked as Paige walked into the living room with nothing but a towel.

"Uh Paige…" Ironhide said sounding somewhat nervous.

"Oh sorry Ironhide" Paige brushed away the wet hair from her face "I never had much use for closets, I always throw my clothes all over the place" she picked up a pair of jeans and began looking for a t-shirt. She chose the one Ironhide had folded over her couch. Then she winked at him and returned back to her bathroom and closed the door. Ironhide was left staring; he looked somewhat shocked and somewhat amused.

Paige came out a few moments later; the clothes she had chosen looked nice on her. The t-shirt was a bit too big but it still looked nice. She quickly gathered up her things and then turned to Ironhide who gave her a smile.

"I'll wait for you outside" he said as he fizzled out of sight. Paige grabbed her keys and went to lock her apartment. She put her key into the lock and noticed a few unusual scratches, frowning she locked the door and headed on out to Ironhide. Ironhide opened his door for her and Paige crawled in.

"Thank you for waiting Ironhide" Paige said, she patted the dashboard and Ironhide allowed himself to chuckle.

"My pleasure Paige" he said.

Frenzy was freaking out "_holy-shit-man-that-was-so-fragg'n-creapy-I-mean-so-creepy-i-mean-so-very-creepy-that-just-freaked-me-shitless-holy-crap-man-that-was-just-so-disgusting-so-very-disgusting-I-mean-so-disgusting-"_

He was cut off by Barricade's smooth voice "Frenzy…" he spoke softly.

"_What? Barricade-you-gotta-believe-me-man-that-was-so-fragging-strange-that's-not-normal-man-that-was-so-"_

"Shut up" Barricade muttered.

"_But-you-don't-understand-you-gotta-understand-that-was-not-namral-I-think-a-fat-guy-in-a-speedo-would-look-more-normal-ugly-humans-but-this-was-even-weirder-man-you-gotta-just-listen-to-me-it-was-so-irregular- it-makes-me-think-that-Starscream-may-have-a-wire-loose-what-the-hell-does-he-want-with-that-human?"_ Frenzy jittered on and on and finally after having enough, Barricade secretly shut off his audio receptors and drove peacefully.

"Paige!" Paige whipped around to the sound of her name; it had been her boss who had called her. "Paige, hon' do me a favor"

"Sure boss" Paige shrugged, she didn't have anything to do at the moment, the photo shop wasn't busy at the moment.

"I need you to pick me up a coffee, I'm dying here girl. I got too much paperwork to leave and well I _need_ a coffee. There are no words to describe how much I need this coffee" he was about to go on when Paige help up her hands silencing him.

"I got it boss" she told him smiling "What sort of a coffee do ya want?" she asked preparing to grab her purse and walk on over to Ironhide.

"Black, that's all!" he told her. He gave her one final wave as Paige exited the building.

Ironhide was doing an internet search and couldn't be bothered to notice Paige. He did notice when she opened the door and climbed in, she sat and he snapped to attention. Paige put on her seatbelt and looked at the steering wheel.

"Can you find a good coffee shop around here?" she asked.

"You want me to drive you to a coffee shop?" Ironhide said sounding amused "are you skipping from your duties?" he asked.

Paige looked appalled "I would never!" she told him "My boss says that he is dying without coffee and so has ordered me to go get some." She told him.

"Well then" Ironhide said "Why can't your boss get his own coffee?" Ironhide asked as he pulled out of his parking space and drove on towards a Starbuck's he had located on his GPS.

"He has too much work to do" Paige said settling nicely into her seat.

"So now you're an errand girl?" Ironhide said, he felt that Paige wasn't having her talents used properly.

Paige leaned forward "I don't mind, I am being paid to do this and he's my boss and my friend, I don't mind giving him a favor" she told him

"I suppose" Ironhide said as he stopped for a red light, he watched as an old lady hobbled by.

Paige sat back "besides I like doing favors, makes me feel good about my self. I'm helping others out of the goodness of my heart"

"Or your just being used" Ironhide argued.

"That might be for other people but I do favors for good kind people." Paige told him. "Besides I have said no sometimes when I felt that it was the wrong sort of favor to give."

"I see" Said Ironhide thoughtfully as he pulled up to the Starbuck's, Paige thanked him and got out. A few minutes later she came back in carrying two coffees and a bag which was filled with a few cookies.

"I thought your boss said he only wanted one coffee" Ironhide said.

Paige smiled "I also did him the favor so I could get myself a coffee and a few cookies" she told him.

Ironhide let out a snigger "Well that just makes every thing better"

Paige sipped her coffee and nodded "Coffee does make everything better" she told him "I'd give you some but I'm not sure if you can drink or eat" she looked at the dash thoughtfully and when he didn't respond she said "Can you drink or eat?"

"Well when in robot form we use Energon as a sort of food, but when I am in my holoform I can eat human food" he said.

Paige held out her coffee "Do you want to try?" she asked.

Ironhide hesitated for a moment but then pulled over and activated his holoform, "Alright he said. Paige handed him the cup of coffee and he took it and sipped it. Ironhide felt warm liquid enter in his mouth and he immediately liked the taste. So he swallowed and took another sip.

"Hey that's mine!" Paige unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over to try and grab the coffee but Ironhide leaned away from her and held the coffee out of her reach. "Aw come on Ironhide" she made another grab for the coffee but ended up slipping and falling into his lap. She felt and heard Ironhide laughing and sat up, his blue eyes sparkled mischievously as he held the coffee. Paige pouted and tried once more to get the coffee, she failed and Paige pouted once more. Ironhide took another gulp of coffee and watched as Paige got up from her seat, she brought up her feet and was about to touch the seat with her shoes when Ironhide stopped her.

"No dirty footwear on my seats" he told her sternly.

"Fine" Paige rolled her eyes and took off her shoes, she wore fuzzy socks. She brought her feet up to the seat again and sat in a sort of crouch. Her feet were on the seat and her knees rested just under her head. She balanced on the fronts of her feet and when she saw Ironhide take another sip she growled and leaned forward once more. Ironhide pulled the coffee out of her reach and stuck his tongue out at her. Paige closed her eyes and she too stuck her tongue out at him. She opened her eyes when she heard Ironhide laughing.

Paige pouted "Can I have my coffee back?" she asked still leaning forward.

Ironhide smile he took one last sip and then handed the coffee back to Paige, "Fine" he said with a small smile.

Paige took the coffee and found he had drunk almost a quarter of it, she turned her brown eyes towards him and said "you owe me a quarter of a coffee" she took a big gulp of her coffee and smile at the old welcome taste. Ironhide watched her for a moment, but he then noticed the small bag which Paige said had cookies. He picked it up and looked over to Paige who sighed and held up one finger "Only one" she told him. Ironhide took out one circular shaped item and nibbled on it. After doing a quick internet search he found the cookie's name- chocolate chip. He liked the taste of the cookie as well and gobbled it up fast. When Paige saw his intent to grab another cookie she took the bag and hid it behind her.

"Aww come on Paige, one more" he held out his hands and Paige sighed.

"You're like a child" she told him, she handed him one more cookie and took the last one for herself. The finished their snacks quickly.

Ironhide grinned at Paige "Thanks for the coffee and the cookies" he told her.

Paige laughed "Your welcome" she said "I may have to take you to a candy store someday soon" she said thoughtfully.

Ironhide was about to say 'how about now?' but he realized Paige still had work "Uh Paige I think you should get back to work" Ironhide told her.

Paige slumped back into her seat and pouted "now that's no fun" she told him.

Ironhide shrugged "We can go there after…" he said hopefully.

Paige turned her head and laughed "Alright" she said. "Let's get back to work"

Barricade drove along the country side, his audio receptors were off and he was enjoying peace and quiet while Frenzy chatted not knowing his voice could not be heard by the larger robot. Suddenly Barricade took a turn and drove into a field kicking up dust and other such earthly matters. The field was a farmer's field but it was far enough away from human's for Barricade to transform. As he did so Frenzy stood on the ground and stepped back as a giant robot emerged form the once was police car.

"_where-is-Starscream-I-mean-what-the-hell-man-I-went-through-that-nightmare-and-he-is-not-even-here!!!!" _the small robot threw up his hands in an aggravated manner.

"Hush Frenzy" Barricade silenced the small robot as a jet with cybertronian markings flew into the clearing. It looked as if for a moment, that the plane would hit the big robot but its metal body began to shift metal plating slid over metal plating, and soon limbs were appearing. The robot landed quite gracefully. His head seemed a bit too small for his body but he still managed to pull off an evil sort of look.

"Barricade, Frenzy… have you completed your mission?" he asked with an animal sort voice.

"Yes" was Barricade's answer

"_Yes-yes-yes-we-did-we-totally-did-and-I-was-not-scared-no-sir-disgusting-human-did-not-scare-me-not-at-all-no-no-no-no-no!" _Frenzy told him.

Starscream seemed somewhat pleased "then show me your findings." Frenzy did just that, he projected an image of a human and Starscream knelt down as Frenzy's projection changed, the projected image of the human changed and Frenzy let out a little shudder. Barricade stayed silent while Starscream regarded the image with a strange sort of fascination.

"_gross-gross-gross!" _Frenzy shivered _"why-the-hell-do-you-want-with-this-human-anyways?-its-so-gross!" _

The projection ended and Starscream picked up the small robot "What you fail to understand my little-" he paused for a moment "_pathetic, _friend. You fail to understand the… potential she has"

Frenzy looked up at the massive robot before him _"the-potential-to-be-disgusting?" _he asked.

Starscream lost his temper, he threw the small robot on the ground and stepped on him, he smiled when he heard the small robot groan in pain.

"Just to be sure this little screwed up piece of trash was right about the human…" his head snapped up "Barricade!" Barricade got the silent order and transformed and drove off.

Paige had given her boss the coffee and he thanked her with a small wink. She had gone back to her desk and was minding her own business waiting for a customer when a man walked in. she looked up and gave him a smile.

"Hello!" she smiled. He grunted but gave no greeting. "Uh… what can I do fro you today?" she tried to keep her smile in place, but it was difficult, the man before her was creeping her out. He had dull red eyes which seemed to stare straight into her very soul. She shivered.

"Just a passport photo" he said, his voice cold and heartless.

"Uh sure… just this way" she gestured into a dark room where the photo would be taken. The man walked in the room and she followed after him. Once the door was shut she gestured towards the stool at the end of the small room, "Have a seat" she told him kindly. He did as she ordered and Paige went to get the proper camera. Once she had the camera set up on the tripod she began to make the proper adjustments. While she was doing so the man was staring at her.

Paige straightened up and began to walk over to the man so that she could tell him what sort of position to take. Suddenly the man seized her, his big hands went around her small wrists and she was pushed up against the wall. She had time to let out a scream before one of his hands clamped down on her mouth. His other hand held the two of hers above her head. His red eyes flashed and then moved their way up and down the length of her body. Paige struggled against his hold but he snarled at her, telling her to stay still.

Ironhide had heard the scream and was debating whether or not to help when he saw a police car parked right outside of the photo shop. He let out an angry growl and activated his holoform, he then ran inside and scanned the area quickly looking for Paige. He found her struggling against another form. Ironhide burst in the room and tackled the man. Paige fell to the ground in a heap while the two men began a fist fight.

Paige clamped her hands over her mouth trying her best not to scream as Ironhide was thrown against the wall. Ironhide got up and dodging a blow to the face he went in low and hit the man with a well placed punch to the stomach. The man let out a little groan but lashed out a kick towards Ironhide. Ironhide blocked and hit him once more, this time smashing his head with his knuckles. The man staggered back and leaned against the wall for support. Ironhide stood in front of Paige and looked calmly towards his attacker.

"Stupid" the man muttered, he gave Ironhide an evil smile and then his body fizzled and disappeared.

Paige let out a little surprised gasp. Ironhide turned to the woman behind him and let out a little sound of sympathy. He had decided to let the Decepticon go, because he was unable to care for Paige and chase after the other at the same time, so he had figured that the human was his first priority.

He bent down "Paige?" she looked up at him; her hands still over her mouth, there were the makings of tears in her eyes. "Aww, Paige, don't you worry. I'm here" he looked at her hands and saw bruises forming, Barricade had gripped her hard. He was careful not to hurt her when he grabbed her arms. She allowed him to move her hands; Ironhide took a hold of her chin and moved her head gently, checking for damage.

"What the hell is going on!" an angry voice suddenly shouted from the door way.

Ironhide looked up, he saw two men and a lady, one man had his arm around the lady's shoulders, "Who are you?" he asked moving slightly in front of Paige.

"I'm Paige's boss" the man with out the lady said.

"I'm Bradley" the man with his arm around the woman said, he introduced the woman as Pat. Ironhide recognized Bradley's name as the name of Paige's ex-boyfriend, when he saw the woman in his arms he figured it was Paige's actual ex-boyfriend. 'Who are you?" Bradley asked, he seemed unsettled by Ironhide's hand on Paige.

Ironhide looked at Bradley for a moment with narrowed eyes, then deciding to give Bradley more grief he smiled "I'm Paige's boyfriend" he told them.

Bradley flinched "Oh are you?" he asked trying to sound pleasant.

"Enough of that" Paige's boss ran into the room and knelt down next to Paige, she was shivering and seemed to have no knowledge of what was going on. "What happened to her?" he ran a hand down Paige's arm.

"She was attacked" Ironhide said, he was gathering Paige up in his arms and was preparing to take her on over to the Autobot base where he would get Ratchet to check her out and then they would discuss what to do after.

"Good God" Paige's boss breathed.

"I'm taking her to the hospital" Ironhide lied; he needed to get Paige out.

"Yes yes, you do that" he ushered them out of the room and sent them out.

Ironhide walked quickly he held onto Paige gently, Paige held onto him and she seemed a bit better.

"It's going to be ok Paige" Ironhide told her as he deposited her in the passenger seat. He then got in and his holoform disappeared. He started driving to the base.

After a few moments Paige spoke up, "Ironhide?"

"Yes Paige?" Ironhide said, he was relived to hear that her voice was back to normal.

"Why did you say that you were my boyfriend?" she asked, her forehead was pressed against the cool window, her eyes were closed but she looked better now that they were out of the shop.

Ironhide chuckled "you saw Bradley there right?" he asked.

"Yes I did" Paige paused "Scum" she muttered "had his arm around Pat, his new girl I suppose" she said miserably.

"He seemed jealous that I was the one who saved you" Ironhide said sounding amused.

Paige sat up "I would prefer you over him any day" she said.

"As your savoir or as your boyfriend?" Ironhide couldn't help himself from asking.

Paige paused, she gave the empty seat next to her a small shy smile "Both" she said.


	4. Chapter 4

When Ironhide and Paige had reached the elevator of the base, Ironhide heard Paige let out a small whimper.

"It'll be fine Paige" he tried to sooth her already shattered nerves.

"I-I Know" she let out a big sigh "I'm such a coward" she muttered.

"No your not" Ironhide told her "Cowards run away from what they fear"

"I want to run away" Paige said, she had taken off her shoes and was curled up in a small ball.

"But are you running away?" Ironhide asked.

"N-no" Paige stuttered, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth "I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble" she held onto her knees with her arms. "Ironhide….?"

"Yes Paige?" he waited for her to request something of him.

"Can you hold me?" Paige asked.

"Huh?"

Paige got up and moved tot eh back seat of the truck "Turn on your Holoform" she told him, realizing she had just ordered him she added "Please" Ironhide complied and his holoform flickered to life beside her. Paige was back in her ball position and she let go of her knees long enough to grab his hands and place them around her body in what he supposed was a comforting motion. Ironhide didn't at all mind the fact that he had to hold the small human; in fact he quite liked the feel of her soft body against his hard one. He held onto her as his original from drove forward, because it took some concentration to keep his holoform activate and move himself, his holoform flickered for a few moments and Paige whimpered. Once he was on the elevator he mentally activated it and solidified his holoform once again. Paige buried her face in her knees and Ironhide kept a firm hold on her.

Ironhide had reached the entrance and had driven in, when he stopped his holoform continued to hold the terrified woman until he was sure she was alright.

"Okay, you can let go now…" Paige looked a little white; her knuckles were white from gripping her jeans.

"You sure?" he asked not moving his arms from around her.

"Yup, I'm good" Paige nodded, she was right; he noticed the colour coming back to her cheeks.

He chuckled and let go of her "alright" he brushed his fingers against her cheek and she gave him a small sad smile. Paige managed to detach her clenched hands from her jeans and slipped her shoes back on. Ironhide's holoform disappeared and she got out of him. Then after taking a few steps back she watched the awesome spectacle of a car transforming into a robot.

"Woah…" she breathed. Ironhide smirked pleased he had easily astounded her.

Optimus walked into the area and when he saw Paige he gave her a smile and said "Nice to see you again Paige"

Paige inclined her head politely "Nice to see you too sir"

Optimus chuckled "No need for sir" he told her.

"Okay" Paige told him giving him a smile that made her face glow.

Optimus turned his head to Ironhide "What brings you and Paige here?" he asked.

Ironhide made a sound which sounded like the clearing of a his throat and began "The was attacked by Barricade sir"

Optimus frowned "What? Why?" he looked down at the small human concerned, she was blushing, Paige hated attention.

"I don't know sir" Ironhide shrugged. "He attacked her with his holoform" he added.

"Was it a killing intent?" Optimus asked.

"No" Paige answered for Ironhide.

Optimus knelt down "If you could tell me all that happened we might be able to understand this situation better" Paige nodded; she began her explanation and continued on to the part where Ironhide saved her.

Optimus stood up "Well he was obviously after Paige and not you Ironhide" he said "you were parked near him and he probably knew it was you and he avoided you" he turned his head back to Paige "Can you think of anything that the Decepticons might want from you?"

Paige thought for a moment and shrugged "What little brains I have?" she joked lamely.

Optimus sighed and stood up straight, it was obvious he was thinking, Paige and Ironhide both remained quiet and allowed the Autobot leader to do his thinking. After a moment he spoke again "Paige, I understand that you live by yourself and you have a job, but it is obvious you are in a dangerous situation. I think it best if you come and live at the Autobot base until we get this straightened out."

Paige looked sad at first and then she broke out into a smile "Okay!" she said.

She was about to do a little happy dance when she realized something "Optimus, I don't have any clothes or other things like that" she told him.

"Ironhide can get you your things" Optimus told her.

"On no…" Paige looked up at Optimus and frowned "You can't send him to get my clothes" Paige told him.

"Why?" Optimus asked.

"Because I'm sure you Autobots have no sense of style" Paige said.

Ironhide looked insulted "Excuse me" he said.

Paige turned to look at him and wagged her finger at him "sure your stylish, but for robots! Not for women's clothes" she told him "I would be better if I came along" she said.

Optimus thought for a moment "Well I suppose you can go. Just as long as Ironhide does not leave your side" he said.

Paige touched her small foot to Ironhide's massive foot "We'll stick together like glue"

Optimus nodded "See that you do" he said. He waved them away and Ironhide looked down at the small human in surprise.

She saw is look and lifted a brow "What?" she sounded confused.

"You just altered Optimus Primes orders" Ironhide told her, he sounded somewhat in awe.

Paige blinked a few times and then rushed to hide behind Ironhide's foot, "is that bad?" she whispered up at him.

Ironhide laughed "No! It's just that Optimus' orders are never questioned or altered"

Paige squeaked "Never changed!" she cowered some more "is he going to be mad at me?" she asked eyeing the direction that Optimus had left the room, she had images of him rushing back out and picking her up.

"He would never hurt a human let alone hate one" Ironhide told her. He bent down and stroked her back trying to calm the poor woman, she had been through quite a bit in one day, he thought.

Paige let out a little sigh and angled her head up to look at him "How come I feel so safe with you?" she asked quietly. Ironhide didn't have an answer for her, so instead he ran his finger up and down her small back some more.

"We had better get going" Ironhide stood up and backed away a few steps, he then transformed and Paige climbed in. She settled into the passenger seat and leaned her head back. Ironhide had driven to the great big door that once opened lead to a straight drop to doom. Paige let out a small whimper, and took of her shoes; she was preparing to curl up into her little protective ball when Ironhide's voice stopped her.

"Why are you so afraid of heights?" he asked.

Paige shuddered "I hate them, one misstep and you could be falling a hundred stories to your doom, unable to stop unable to do anything but flail helplessly and scream. But I can handle this… because you're around. Usually I jest need something to keep me distracted."

"Distracted…" Ironhide repeated the word. After a moment he figured he could try something, so he said "Paige get into the back" Paige did what he told her to and sat in the middle seat. Her arms were around her knees and her chin was resting on the tops of her knees. The doors opened and Ironhide drove onto the elevator. Before Paige had the chance to tense her muscles she felt a hand grab her chin and wrench it upward, then suddenly a strange pair of lips touched her own. Paige let out a muffled gasp and struggled to back up, he wouldn't let her, the elevator was still rising and Paige had said she needed a distraction so he figured that he would kiss her. Once they were at the top of the cliff Ironhide broke his hold on Paige. She stared at him wide eyes.

Ironhide stared back, and then after a moment he grinned "well that wasn't so bad was it?" he said.

Paige looked outside and saw that they had already gone up the elevator, she hadn't noticed, "T-Thank you" she stammered. After a moment she began to laugh "well that certainly kept me distracted" she touched a hand to her lips in a thoughtful motion and Ironhide noticed that her cheeks reddened a bit.

"Lets go" Ironhide told her, he gave her a quick smile and Paige crawled into the front seat. Ironhide's holoform disappeared and he began to make his way towards Paige's home.

They got there in under an hour, Paige got out and so did Ironhide's holoform. She led him inside and walked on over to her door. When she reached her door she saw that it was already open. Frowning she opened it and saw Bradley. Paige let out a little gasp and backed up a few steps. She franticly turned to Ironhide and motioned to back up a few steps. Ironhide did as she had asked him to and she turned back to the door.

"Paige…" Bradley was walking towards her.

Paige frowned "what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see you" he said, he had stopped walking towards her just as he reached the door frame.

"Oh well, that's nice. I suppose…" Paige ran a hand through her hair feeling quite helpless in the situation she was in.

"Aren't you going to give me coffee?" he asked.

"I-I don't know" Paige said shaking her head.

Bradley smiled he reached out and stroked her arm "I was worried about you" he said "you were attacked after all, I figured I would come on over to see if you were alright. And…. I've also been feeling a little lonely lately" he said.

Paige was about to retort when a hand grabbed Bradley's wrist roughly, "I don't think so" Ironhide growled. He had moved towards them silently, wishing Paige would hit the good for nothing son of a bitch, but she had shown fear and he had taken a subtle pass at her, which as her guardian he could not allow.

Bradley looked at Ironhide coolly "If you would please release my hand. Sir." He said.

Ironhide growled but dropped the man's hand, "Stay away from her" he snarled. Paige was watching the two men with a growing fear; she gripped her hands tightly together wishing she had the guts to break them apart.

"P-Please stop" she murmured, Ironhide heard her and his eyes softened at the helpless look on her face. Ironhide took her hand gently and led her around Bradley and walked her into her apartment, Bradley watched them with a growing anger.

"If you touch her…" Bradley growled angrily. Ironhide narrowed his eyes at the man before him, he felt like proving that he was better than Bradley, but Paige was already in her apartment, suddenly there was a loud thunk and the sound of a body falling to the floor in a heap.

"Owww" Paige's voice could be heard from inside of the apartment. Ironhide closed his eyes and sighed, he then slammed the door in Bradley face.

"Slagging scum" he muttered as he walked into the apartment to find Paige in a heap on the ground. He maneuvered around her and her mess until he head reached her front. Once there he put his hands on her sides and hauled her up to her feet. Paige look a little dazed so he kept his hold on her until she could think properly again. Paige noticed that Ironhide was frowning at her.

"What?" she asked as he let go of her.

"Paige have you ever stood up for yourself?" he asked a bit of anger evident in his tone.

Paige thought for a moment "Well there was this one time, in Pre School. When little Timmy took my lunch and I hit him on the nose" she told him, her eyes twinkled with humor.

Ironhide felt like throttling her "Have you ever denied Bradley anything?" he asked.

Paige thought for a moment "All he requests were reasonable so I saw no need to say no" she told him, her chin coming up in an act of defiance. She knew that she acted weak around Bradley but he had injured her heart and she was still not yet over it.

Ironhide let out a low growl of impatience "don't you get it? He was using you! All he wanted was your body and not your feelings" Ironhide told her, he knew what he was sawing was harsh but she needed to know.

Paige's bottom lip trembled "I Know!" she told him, she pulled out of his grasp and turned around "I'm not dumb Ironhide" she said quietly.

Ironhide looked at her for a moment "you just can't say no" he said. He had hit it dead on. Paige hated denying anyone anything, she always felt as if she was letting them down when she said no. She hated seeing hurt faces, she knew she was soft but she couldn't help it.

"Paige, I know your kind and you love helping others…. But… sometimes no is the best answer" he said walking forward slowly, he stepped over a pile of clothes and gently grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. She had a sad look in her eyes but, she vowed that she wasn't going to cry, she wouldn't; she knew it would be a burden to him. Ironhide looked at her for a moment, and then he backed away and slumped down onto her couch. "Get me some coffee" he told her.

Paige stared at him dumbfounded "W-What?" she asked.

"I said I want coffee" he told her.

"But-" Paige sighed "Ok" she made a move for the kitchen when Ironhide's voice stopped her.

"Never mind, I've changed my mind, I don't want coffee" Ironhide said.

"Oh Ok…" Paige moved back to where she was standing before.

"Cookies… Yeah, I want cookies" Ironhide told her.

"Huh?" Paige stared at him.

"Cookies…" he said looking pointedly towards the kitchen. Paige made a move towards the kitchen when his voice stopped her once more "Actually, I've changed my mind" and so went on the process Ironhide would rudely ask for something and Paige after a moments shock would move to oblige when once more he would change his mind.

It continued until Paige lost her temper "Yah know what Ironhide! If you want something you get it yourself. I'm not doing anything for you" she frowned and sat down on her carpet to show she meant it.

Ironhide stared at her for a long moment and she stared back with a grump pout on her face, then suddenly he broke out into a big smile "That wasn't so hard was it?" he asked. "I would have been pleased with a simple no but that worked too" he told her.

Paige frowned and got up, she went and sat next to Ironhide "You mean you wanted me to say no?" she asked.

Ironhide would have thought it obvious "Yeah, why do you think I kept changing my mind?"

Paige thought for a moment "Oh" she said.

Ironhide leaned back "It felt nice to say no. Didn't it?" he asked.

Paige thought back and grinned "Yeah, yeah it did"

"Great, though I still could use some coffee" Ironhide said.

Paige looked at him carefully and sat back like him "You get it" she told him.

Ironhide laughed, he tousled her hair with one big hand and got up "That's my girl" he said.

Ironhide looked up quickly how to make coffee locating the proper ingredients he started the coffee maker and walked into the living room. Paige was picking up loose articles of clothing and stuffing them into a bag. She was leaning over her couch trying to pick up a pair of pants, her hand came up a few inches short and she waved her arm wildy trying to get at it. Ironhide laughed his low laugh and walked two long strides, bent down picked up the article of clothing and handed it to her.

Paige blew a off a strand of hair that had come to res ton her nose and smiled "Thanks" she said. Ironhide tweaked her nose and she scowled just as the timer went off for the coffee.

Ironhide poured two cups and brought them back into the living room. Paige had stuffed the jeans into the bag and was trying to close it with little luck.

"Hey Ironhide, give me a hand" Paige said. Ironhide put down the coffee and walked over to help her. He zipped it closed and Paige looked at his and her work with a satisfied nod.

"Alright" Ironhide said. "Drink your coffee and we'll get going." Ironhide said. Paige did as she was told. Ironhide drank his coffee quickly not really minding the burn the hot liquid gave him. He put down the cup and looked around her apartment once more, noticing all of the plants and flowers she was leaving behind. Paige of course had known this from the start and had felt a twinge of sadness, but she knew it was for her safety to leave her beloved plants. Ironhide looked through her masses of plants and deciding that she needed at least one he picked up a pot filled with yellow flowers and placed it next to her bag. Paige gave him a grateful look and finished the last of her coffee.

"Lets go" Ironhide picked up her bag and Paige lifted her plant carefully. They walked out and after giving one last look at her apartment the left with Ironhide.


	5. Chapter 5

On the drive back to the base Paige realized something, "Ironhide, where will I be sleeping?"

Ironhide thought for a bit "Well, considering we are taking about Optimus' decision about where to place you. My best guess would be either in the med lab or out by the door"

"Alright" Paige said. "Will I have a bed?" she asked a minute later.

Ironhide chuckled softly "Of course Paige, we're not going to torture you or cause you any difficulty" he told her.

Paige let out a small sigh of relief, she shifted the pot of flowers in her lap and said "how long do you think I will have to stay at your base… not that I don't want to stay at your base, its just that-"

"I understand Paige" Ironhide cut her off. "It's hard being away from home"

Paige sympathized with him "especially if it's on a different planet" she said.

"Yes, Especially" Ironhide said.

Paige bit her bottom lip "I don't mean to open old wounds but… can you tell me what it was like on your planet? Was it beautiful?"

Ironhide le tout a long sigh, "Yeah, It was the most beautiful place, always filled with life and laughter"

"Then you had a war right?" Paige asked.

"How did you know?" Ironhide asked.

"I didn't, that just happens all the time, what is peaceful is corrupted by war" Paige told him.

"Well aren't you just a smartie" Ironhide said "yes we had a war, our planet was divided up into two groups"

"Autobots and Decepticons" Paige said.

Ironhide heaved another big sigh "Paige do you want to tell the story or should I continue?"

Paige bit back a retort "Fine, I'll stay quiet"

"Thank you. So anyways we had a big war over the Allspark. Bumblebee threw it into space and it was lost. Then after a while we got a team together to find the Allspark, because we knew the decepticons were coming after it. The team was lead by Optimus, and we ended up here as you see us now, except we lost one" Ironhide said, his voice seemed to have lost its emotion.

"Awww" Paige patted the dash and gave her condolences. Ironhide was thankful for her respect.

"His name was Jazz"

"Nice name" Paige murmured, she meant it. "He sounds like a nice guy"

"He was" Ironhide said.

"Do you want to go back home?" Paige asked feeling sorry for the poor guy.

Ironhide scoffed "What home? It was destroyed"

Paige felt the need to comfort him or make him laugh, she wished she hadn't brought up the subject, "Well as a resident of earth I extend my hand of welcome" Paige told him, she figured it was the right thing to say.

"Nice to know some of you guys like us" Ironhide said. The need to stroke him became too intense, so Paige extended her hand and ran it down the arm rest and back up.

"Some people just need to get used to the idea that giant robots roam the earth now" Paige told him as her hand continued to move up and down the arm rest.

"I-I suppose" Ironhide said. He was very aware of her hands on his seat and he was trying very hard not to shudder.

Paige stopped rubbing the arm rest when she saw the cliff end. She gripped her plant pot tight and closed her eyes.

"Paige, if you get in the back…" Ironhide felt bad for the poor woman and her fear of heights.

"No its fine, I can deal with it" Paige nodded as if reassuring herself.

"You're allowed to say yes to something's" Ironhide told her, thinking his lesson in saying no had gone too far.

"I know I just want to see if I can handle it" Paige said.

"Don't push yourself to places you can't go" Ironhide told her.

"I can do it" Paige said.

Ironhide drove onto the elevator; he activated it and moved his optics back onto the small human. Her eyes were shut tight and she gripped her plant pot tightly. He felt her tense in the seat, as soon as the doors to the base opened Ironhide sped in giving Paige some relief.

"You did good" he murmured.

Paige let out the breath she had been holding "Thank you" she blushed.

Paige reached into the back and grabbed her bag. She then got out, her plant swaying slightly to her movements. Ironhide transformed and signaled to Optimus that they were back. Optimus came in a few moments later and gave them a relived smile.

"You were taking so long" he said "I was planning to go after you myself"

Paige tilted her head "What do you transform into?" she asked.

"A semi" Optimus told her.

"Oooh" Paige smiled up at him, "That explains your size" she said. Optimus let out a small chuckle. "Where will I be sleeping?" Paige asked after Optimus had his small laugh.

"You will be bunking with Ironhide" Optimus told her "His room is big enough to hold his stasis bed, his guns and your bed. And I feel it necessary for you to be watched over at all times"

"With Ironhide" Paige felt the heat rising up to her cheeks and she didn't know why.

"Yes. I've had Ratchet already set you up a suitable bed so all that is left is for you to get settled in"

"Thank you Optimus" Paige said gratitude evident in the tone of her voice.

"My pleasure Paige" Optimus gave her a reassuring smile.

Ironhide gave Paige a small nudge with his foot "come on Paige" he said. "I'll show you the way"

"Oh ok" Paige followed after him. Ironhide walked down the hallway and turned, a door opened and he walked in. Paige followed in after him and let out a big breath. "Wow!" she said in awe. Guns lined the walls, each looking more deadly than the one before.

Ironhide looked down at the small impressed human "Well this is it" he said Paige looked around the room and saw a bed.

She walked on over to it, it was a queen sized bed and would suit her nicely. She placed down her plant and bag and jumped onto the bed. She rolled back and forth and let out a small giggle. The bed was soft and seemed to absorb her every movement, she couldn't have asked for a better bed. She sat up and looked over at Ironhide, he saw sitting down and watching her with an amuse expression.

"What?" she asked.

"It doesn't take much to amuse you does it?" Ironhide asked.

Paige shrugged "I am easily pleased" she told him, redness had entered her cheeks her cheeks once more. Paige was angry with herself, she was blushing and showing off far too emotion than was normal for her. Ever since Ironhide had saved her Paige had felt a weight being lifted from her shoulders; she hadn't even known it was there. She had been surviving going through life as was normal before she had met the Autobots, but now that she knew them, she wanted. She wanted not to survive, but rather she wanted to live, she wanted adventures, she wanted romance, she wanted it all. It scared her a little bit, but she wasn't going to back down. She wasn't going to run at the smallest shadow but rather she vowed to charge it head on. And she was doing it, she hadn't moved from her seat when Ironhide had gone down the elevator. She had yelled at a giant robot, but the one thing that made her the most happiest was that she had made friends with the same giant robot that she had yelled at.

He sat before her eyeing her with an expression that she knew was one of amusement. The way the metal of his face moved to display different emotions fascinated Paige, she wanted to get a close look at him face but then she figured that she would be invading his personal bubble. Maybe someday when she had the courage she would ask him to let her climb on top of him and get a better look.

"Thank you Ironhide, for putting up with me" Paige sat with her legs dangling over the edge of the bed and leaned back on her hands.

Ironhide moved a bit, he looked as if he were embarrassed "Its nothing Paige, I am your guardian after all"

"My what?" Paige asked with her brow raised.

"Your guardian, you've been my charge ever since I started driving you to work" Ironhide told her.

"Really?" Paige let off a small laugh, "and here I thought we were just friends"

"We are friends. Are we not?" Ironhide asked.

"Yes we are." Paige said "And I'm grateful for that"

"We are friends and I am your guardian, I am responsible for your safety" Ironhide told her, he crossed her arms and leaned against the wall in a lazy fashion.

"That will be hard work" Paige told him "I am very clumsy"

"I already noted that" Ironhide told her, a smile flickering across his features. Paige remained silent for a moment, she observed the guns lined against the wall and then turned her gaze to his massive arms which she knew housed big guns as well.

"Are you really skilled with these, or do you just like guns?" Paige asked.

Ironhide sat up, "I love guns, he told her, but you wont ever find a better shot than me" he told her proudly.

"Is that so?" Paige asked sitting up in the same way Ironhide was.

"You don't believe me?" Ironhide said, noting her sarcastic remark.

"Well after saying something like that, I do require a bit of proof" Paige told him.

"Alright then human, follow me" Ironhide stood up and waited for Paige to jump off her bed. Then he opened the door and walked out of the room. Paige followed after him and when they reached the elevator she let out a flinch.

"We have to go on that?" she asked.

"Well human, do you want this proof or not?" Ironhide asked, he dearly wanted to show off his skills and shoot something.

Paige nodded, she set a determined face and when the door opened she stepped on the platform and Ironhide stepped on with her. Once he was standing Paige placed a hand on his foot and forced herself to calm down. She closed her eyes and heard the beginnings of the elevators decent. Ironhide kept an optic on the small human, her posture remained relaxed as they continued down, and he felt proud of her. She was facing a great fear and when he looked down at her a visual look displayed a human with nothing to fear. Paige of course was not relaxed, her heart was pounding and she felt her stomach rise with the motion of the elevator.

Then suddenly it was over. The elevator stopped and Paige cracked open an eye and let out a little breath. They were in the bottom of the cliff, shear rock faces connected and extended towards the sky. The ground was fairly flat providing excellent sparring ground for the Autobots. Off to the side there were small targets which had been set up especially for Ironhide. She looked back up at Ironhide the awe clear upon her face.

"You guys have a place like this?" she whirled her head back to the large area "Wow!" she beamed.

Ironhide smirked "come along then human" He began to walk off the elevator "I have a boast to prove" Paige followed him to the area which she figured was the shooting area. She stood next to Ironhide and looked at him expectantly. Ironhide made a big show of bringing out one of his canons. His fingers wiggled and then out came a cylinder, metal parts moved in and out of the way and soon a respectable canon flipped out of his arm. Paige crossed her arms and raised her brow. Ironhide took a stance, one of his feet moved behind him and he extended his arm. After some quick aiming he mentally triggered his canon and sent of a large amount of energy. His blast hurtled towards the center of the target and hit it dead on.

Ironhide looked down at the small human who was clapping "that was awesome!" she shouted "Do it again!" she told him.

Ironhide let out a low chuckle and shrugged "Alright" he was in fact quite pleased that Paige had taken such an immediate liking to what he had done for most of his life- and the was blowing up things. Then again Ironhide thought, who didn't love a big explosion now and again. Ironhide activate his other canon, and in one quick motion sent of six blasts towards six targets which he hit all perfectly center.

"Woooaaahhh!" Paige was staring at the robot before her dumbfounded.

"Is that proof enough?" he asked mildly.

"Holy crap" Paige said "your awesome!" she told him, giving him one big thumb up.

Ironhide let out a booming laugh "Well thank you" he told her after he was done laughing.

Paige frowned up at him "What's so funny?" she asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Well now, I don't know" Ironhide told her. He knelt down, "But I felt the need to laugh" he said.

Paige rolled her eyes "you robots…" she muttered. Ironhide just shrugged, Paige took her hands off her hip and looked around. She spotted black dirt near the elevator. She tilted her head and stared at the dirt a moment more, she then walked over to it and knelt down. Ironhide watched Paige curiously; he walked up behind her and leaned over a bit so that he could see what she was doing. She had dug her hands into the dirt and when she had a good mass of it in her hand she gave it a sniff and rubbed it through her fingers. As the dirt trickled down Paige had and idea. A brilliant idea if she did say so herself. Loosing one of her hands of all the dirt she felt her back pocket and found that indeed she had remembered her wallet. With this brilliant idea in mind she turned to Ironhide who was staring down at her with a very comical look. He looked as if he thought she was insane.

"Paige why did you smell the earth?" he asked.

"Never mind that" Paige waved his question away with a small motion of her hand. "Can you give me a lift?" she asked.

"I suppose" Ironhide said, wondering where she would want to go.

"Go I need you to take me to a Garden Center" she said.

"Garden… Center…?" Ironhide repeated "What do you want with a garden center?"

"You'll see" Paige told him.

"Alright" Ironhide sighed. His main reason for agreeing was that he was curious as to what the small human had planned.

Dutifully he transformed and Paige got in, she was careful not to touch any of his interior with her dirty hands. The seat belt came around her torso and tightened. Then Ironhide revved his engine and drove onto the elevator. Paige had been so excited for her idea that she had forgotten about the elevator until they actually started going up. She let out a low groan and sunk into her seat. She closed her eyes tightly.

"It'll be alright Paige" Ironhide said. A low moan of agony was his response.

When they reached the top Paige let go of the breath she had been holding and relaxed, "We made it" she breathed. Ironhide didn't bother to reply, he was busy searching up the nearest garden center. He found one twenty minutes away and began his drive. Paige didn't talk to Ironhide, she was too busy planning. The dirt that she had found was rich in nutrients and would serve as a wonderful garden. She figured that she would do something nice for the Autobots to show them how much she appreciated her help and decided a nice garden would do the trick. Then not only would she get to give them a thank you gift but she could fulfill a small dream of hers- she had always wanted to plant a garden.

When they reached the center Paige got out and told Ironhide to wait for a bit. She ran for the entrance and let out a little happy sigh when she saw the mass of green before her. She walked towards the outdoor plants section and began to browse. She looked through numerous shrubs and plants picking out different things she liked and when she had an armful of different plants she realized that she would need a cart, so she ran off and got one. Pretty soon she had a substantial amount of plants, pleased she wheeled her cart over to the check out. Once in line she realized that she needed dirt so she left once more and got three big packages of dirt and wheeled it back. Once again she was in line when she realized that fertilizer was also needed, with a happy smile she left the line up once more and went to grab that as well. Finally she paid for the respective items- it cost a total for two hundred- but Paige figured it was worth the price.

Ironhide had been waiting for half an hour, and steadily he was growing impatient. He had no idea what Paige wanted with a Garden Center but what ever it was it was taking far too long. He grumbled to himself as Paige exited the building laden with a cart full of plants. When she reached him she pulled down the tailgate and jumped in. Unable to talk to her with out drawing attention to himself he waited patiently for her to load up her things. When he saw the bags of dirt he decided to screw cover, no way was she going to dirty him.

He closed his tailgate. Paige frowned and kicked him, "Come on Ironhide"! She said.

"No dirt" Ironhide told her simply.

"Yes dirt" Paige said. She leaned over the tailgate to grab her bag of dirt. She got it and tugged it over and dropped it into the back.

"Paige!" Ironhide sounded as if he was whining.

"Ironhide!" Paige mocked him "I'll give you a car wash after" she told him.

"Fine…." Ironhide muttered. Once Paige had loaded up all her things she crawled into the passenger seat and in order to further annoy Ironhide she patted her dirty hands onto his steering wheel.

"Hey!" Ironhide grumbled. Paige just smiled and allowed him to drive back to the base. Once there she prepared herself for the decent.

"Make sure you go all the way to the bottom of the cliff" she told him.

"Alright" Ironhide muttered, the sooner he could have the dirt out of him the better. Paige unloaded with efficiency and Ironhide transformed. He gave one great big shake and dirt sprayed out, Paige let out a shriek of laughter and cowered as the giant robot above her tried to relieve himself from the dirt in his systems.

Once Ironhide was done shaking he sat down in an angry huff, "This car wash better be good" he muttered.

Paige winked at him "oh it'll be good" she told him. Ironhide was surprised to feel a shiver of excitement. "You'll get it after I'm done here" Paige said as she arranged her plants and her tools.

"How long with that take?" Ironhide asked.

"Give or take an hour or two" she said a she dug a hole with her hands.

"Be a little more specific" Ironhide said in an impatient way.

"I dunno" Paige said shrugging "I'll be done when I'm done" Paige began to take the plant out of its plastic home and placed it in the dirt.

There was silence for a long while, Ironhide watched as the small human dug holes and placed plants in the ground.

"What are you doing this for?" Ironhide asked, wishing to break the silence.

"Well" Paige said as she lugged a heavy plant over to its spot in the ground "I wanted to thank you Autobots for giving me a place to stay and protection." She said "So I figured I would give you a little garden"

Ironhide looked at the makings of her garden and gave her a soft smile "it's beautiful" he told her.

Paige's cheeks went a shade darker "Well it's not finished yet, but when I'm done it'll look nice" she promised him. She put the large plant in its hole and began to fill it occasionally checking to make sure that the plant wasn't tipped. "Did your planet have things like this" she asked as she pounded the ground near the bottom of the plant.

"No not like this, but rather we had massive structures all built of concrete and metal towering across out planet" Ironhide let out a small sigh.

Paige knew she was stepping into a tender area and immediately retreated "That sounds lovely" she said brushing away some of her hair with a dirty hand. She figured that last comment would be then end of it and she was right. Ironhide slipped into silence and once more watched as Paige created a small garden.

An hour passed when Paige finally stood up to assess her work. She wiped away some sweat from he forehead and turned towards Ironhide.

She gestured towards the garden and said "Surprise! It's a garden!" Ironhide laughed and Paige turned back to the garden, "We need to water it" she said.

Ironhide thought for a moment and then said "We have a hose. We needed to use it to wash off all of the dirt we got on our armor when we were training down here"

Paige laughed "that works" she told him. Ironhide got up and brought her the end of the hose. "Well now I can use this to wash you off too" she told him. She took the end of the hose and aimed it towards the garden. Ironhide turned it on and Paige watered for a few minutes. Once done she turned towards Ironhide and gave him a spray in the face.

"Hey!" Ironhide protected his face with his arms and Paige laughed, she walked closer. She kept aiming for his face. "Paige!" Ironhide shouted getting up to run away from the small human with the hose. Paige just laughed and ran after him. Pretty soon Paige ran out of hose length and had to stop, Ironhide stood a safe distance away, his laugh echoing off the canyon walls. "When I said car wash I didn't mean that!" he told her.

Paige shrugged and walked over to the tap where she turned off the water "Well your clean now aren't you?"

"No I'm not" Ironhide said, "I still have dirt all over me" he told her with a small pout.

Paige put her hands on her hips "Then come here and transform, I'll wash it off for you" Ironhide did as she told him and once he was a black gleaming truck did she then begin her promised car wash.

She rubbed him down with some clothes she found near by and heard Ironhide give off a contented sigh "Now this is a car wash" he told her "With out that damn hose" he said. Paige laughed; to further annoy him she sprayed him with the hose again. "Hey!"

Paige had Ironhide dirt free half an hour later; by that time she was drenched with cold water. Ironhide had dried off quickly his armor warmed and dried easily by the sun, Paige eon the other hand had clothes on which didn't dry so easily. Her hair was dripping wet and it stuck to her heart shaped face framing it nicely. Her tight jeans seemed even tighter and her t-shirt clung to her body, Ironhide noticed all.

"Aw man" Paige muttered, she looked up and winked at him "Well good thing we got some clothes"

"Yeah…" Ironhide said.

Paige frowned her head turning towards the elevator "I'm gonna have to ride that thing again" she sighed.

Ironhide transformed and walked onto the elevator, Paige followed after him "You'll make it" he told her.

Paige nodded "Alright" she said. On the way up her hand came to touch Ironhide's foot in what he knew was her seeking comfort. They reached the base entrance and walked in, Paige excused herself and ran over to Ironhide's room where she got changed. She putted on some sweat pants and a tank top which was a little too small for her. After putting her hair up in a soggy pony tail she walked back out and almost ran into Sam.

"Woah" Steady hands gripped her shoulders. Paige gained her balance back and stepped away from the boy.

"Thanks" she smiled at him. He was about the same height as her, his hands still gripped her when Ironhide walked in.

"Sam what are you doing?" Ironhide asked in sharper tones than he had meant to.

Sam let go of Paige and turned to Ironhide "We accidently walked into each other" Sam told him, gripping his neck in what he hoped was a casual way.

"My fault" Paige said glancing from Ironhide to Sam "Sorry, My bad" she told him giving him a smile.

Sam waved her apology away "No problem" he told her.

Paige's stomach suddenly growled and she put a hand to it embarrassed "Sorry." She said again "Got anything to eat?"

Sam laughed and took her wrist "Come on, The Autobots build a kitchen for us" he began to lead her towards a door. Paige glanced up at Ironhide surprise evident on her face.

"You build us a kitchen?" she asked stopping so that Ironhide could answer.

"Why not?" Ironhide said "you humans do have needs. We would never purposely harm you" he said.

"Well thank you" Paige said, she was feeling as if her garden wasn't the best gift after all.

"Come on Paige" Sam pulled her through a door and Paige looked upon a gleaming kitchen filled with all sorts of things. Sam opened the fridge and began to help himself to the milk; he closed the fridge and opened a cupboard to some bowls and cereal. Paige followed suit and opened the fridge. She took out the makings of a sandwich.

As she sat down to eat it, Paige felt safe. She knew the Autobots would be taking care of her and figured that all would be well.


	6. Chapter 6

Paige got ready for bed, she pulled on some short shorts and a tank top and went to the kitchen to use the sink to brush her teeth. After giving her hair a quick brush she headed back into Ironhide's room and pulled her sheets down the bed just as Ironhide walked into the room. He gave a start when he saw what she was wearing, the woman had great legs. He shook his head and walked towards his stasis bed and sat down. As he did so Paige climbed into her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. She gave off a contented sigh and angled her head to look at Ironhide. Ironhide was lying on his stasis bed staring up at the ceiling.

"Good night Ironhide" Paige said.

"Good night Paige" Ironhide said, then suddenly the lights turned off and Paige let out a small shriek. "What are you afraid of the dark too?" Ironhide asked his voice cutting through the darkness.

"No…" Paige said after she had caught her breath "That was just unexpected." She said. "So you can turn off the lights just by thinking about it, right?"

"Yup" Ironhide said lazily. He shut his optics off line content just to talk to the small human.

"Lucky… I have to get up and flip the light switch to do that" Paige said.

"That must be hard work" Ironhide said sarcastically.

Paige let out a small laugh "You have no idea, I have to sit down and rest after I'm done" she flipped over in the bed and faced him while lying on her side. The dim light from the hallway filtered from under the door and it showed the large silhouette or Ironhide. His massive black body seemed one with the shadows. Ironhide shifted a little bit and Paige saw a flicker of blue light that was coming from his chest. She had to resist the urge to climb out of bed and investigate what the blue light was.

It was warm in the room and in an effort to remain cool Paige slipped one of her legs out from under the bed sheet and exposed it to the open air. She gave off one more satisfied sigh and closed her eyes. She was asleep within minutes, her breathing soft and even. Ironhide turned his head careful not to make any noises, he activated his optics. The blue light his optics gave off and the light from the hallway was enough to illuminate her bronzed skin. One of her legs hung off the bed, her arms were wound around the pillow and her head was nuzzled somewhere in between. Ironhide observed her for a moment, taking in every detail her could- the firm muscles of her arm, the small curve of her leg, the dip of her neck. Reacting on an urge he turned on his holoform and quietly walked towards her. When he had reached the bed he reacted on another urge, with two fingers he ran them down her smooth leg. Paige reacted in her sleep; she let out a low murmur and moved her leg slightly. Ironhide smiled softy, such an intriguing creature, he thought. His fingers skimmed over the back of her neck and down her arms causing Paige to snuggle into the pillow deeper with a small sigh.

He brushed away the hair that rested on her forehead, and leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. Paige instinctively angled her head up so that he could have better access, Ironhide gave off a low chuckle that resounded deep in his throat.

"Silly human" he said as he kissed her forehead once again.

"Ironhide…" Paige breathed out his name and Ironhide froze thinking she had awoken, but she merely pressed her face back into her pillow and whimpered. Ironhide shivered, he felt another urge, a primal instinctive urge, and fearing it he turned off his holoform. When he was back to normal in his original body did he then let out a noise which sounded like a long sigh. The human was affecting him and he wasn't sure what to think of it. He shifted into a more comfortable position and turned off his optics and slipped into stasis. He dreamed that night. He dreamed of Paige.

Paige was awoken the next morning by the daily going on's around the base. Ironhide was shifting through some of his guns when she opened her eyes. She let of a low moan and sat up. She stretched and hung her legs over the bed.

"Good morning sleepyhead" Ironhide looked over his shoulder to see her sitting with wild hair and heavy eyes.

She gave him a tired smile "Morning" she got of her bed and began to make her way towards the door. She padded barefoot into the kitchen where she made toast, had cereal and munched on a lot of fruit. She was drinking her second cup of orange juice when Sam came in looking like she had a while ago. He wore no shirt and his boxers had a smiley face pattern.

"Morning" he rasped as he made himself some toast. Once he had the toast he slumped down into an empty chair and began to butter it. Paige propped up her head and closed her eyes, she let off a long sigh, and Sam looked up. "Rough night?" he asked.

Paige wrinkled her nose "no…" she said "I had a great night sleep last night but…"

"But…" Sam looked at her curiously.

"I had a strange dream" Paige told him, she blushed a little.

"Really, What was it about?" Sam asked not noticing her blush.

Paige took a deep breath "Ironhide's holoform" she told him blushing a deep red.

Sam noticed the blush and he too blushed a little sensing where the discussion area was going "You know what, I don't think I want to know" he told her.

Paige laughed "I wont tell you" she told him as she helped herself to another piece of toast.

After a moment Sam spoke up again "hey I'm going into town today with Bumblebee, if there is anything you want I can get it for you" he said.

Paige perked up "Do you think you could get my mail?" she asked. "Its at my apartment, I just never had the chance to open it up yet" she told him.

"Sure, I'll ask Bumblebee if we can make a stop there" Sam said.

"Thanks" Paige got up and began to put away her dishes, when she was done she thanked Sam once again and went out to look for Ironhide. He wasn't in his room and when she went to the main part of the base to look for him he wasn't there either. Frowning she looked around for him.

"Need any help Paige?" Paige looked up and saw Ratchet standing behind her.

She turned around and flashed him a smile "Yeah, please. Can you tell me where Ironhide is?" she asked.

Ratchet pointed to a door she hadn't noticed yet "He's in there. He has monitor duty today, he could use some company" Ratchet told her.

Paige frowned "What's monitor duty?" she asked him.

Ratchet shrugged "We have to keep an eye out for Decepticons, and monitor duty is one way we can search for them" he told her.

"Oh…" Paige said "Sounds boring" she said.

"It is" Ratchet told her. He bent down and gave her a nudge "He could use your company" he told her yet again.

"Ok!" Paige waved him a thanks and headed into the room. The door closed behind her and what Paige saw made her gasp in awe. She saw a giant flat screen which covered an entire wall. Ironhide sat in front of it in a large chair. Next to him was a control panel which was like something out of Star Trek.

"Hey Ironhide" Paige walked up to him.

Ironhide looked down at her and regarded her with glowing blue eyes "Hello" he said. Paige frowned "I don't suppose you would allow me to sit on your knee" she said.

Ironhide shrugged "Sure" he leaned forward and wrapped his fingers around Paige. He left her tense in fear when her feet left the ground but as soon as her feet touched his knee did she relax. She was careful not to look down when she looked over her shoulder up to his face. She carefully sat herself down and marveled at all the parts which held him together. She observed wiring and amour and other such things of an electronic nature.

After a moment she looked up "Ratchet said you could use some company" she told him.

Ironhide kept his eyes on the screen; he smiled "That I could"

"Monitor duty sounds boring" Paige said.

"It is" Ironhide said.

Have you spotted any bed guys yet?" Paige asked.

"Nope" Said Ironhide simply.

Paige was silent for a moment "how did you sleep last night?" she asked.

Ironhide shrugged "Ok" he said.

"Sorry, It's my fault right" Paige said. "I don't mean to be such a burden to you. I can ask to move to a different room" Paige looked up at him with big eyes.

"You did nothing wrong" Ironhide let his optics move onto her face "Don't ask to move" he said.

"Ok…" Paige looked at the large screen before her. It was filled with a map and on the map there was a kind of language which Paige did not recognize. Different areas were lit up while others were a dull grey.

"How did you sleep last night?" Ironhide said in an attempt to start another conversation.

"Good" Paige nodded, she blushed "I had a dream" she told him.

Ironhide tensed "What sort of dream?" he asked her.

"It was about you" Paige said "well… your holoform" Paige told him, she began to fiddle with her hair.

"Ah…" Ironhide rubbed the back of his neck, he knew exactly what her dream was about and he knew it hadn't been a dream but rather it had been real.

"It was a nice dream" Paige told him. "Just…."

"Different" Ironhide finished for her.

Paige looked up at him "yes… how did you know?" Ironhide shrugged and Paige let out a sigh. She looked up at the monitor and saw a yellow dot moving. "What's that?" she asked pointing towards it.

"That's Bumblebee. He and Sam are going out for the day" Ironhide told her, he settled back into his chair grateful that their conversation had veered away from Paige's dream.

"Sam said he was going to pick up my mail" Paige told him. Paige turned her head to look at him and some of her hair fell to rest on her cheek.

"Hmm" Ironhide absentmindedly brushed away the hair with his finger.

"T-thanks" Paige found herself blushing. She reached up to touch her cheek. Ironhide returned his gaze to the monitor and Paige found it to be too quiet. After a moment she asked "Do you listen to music?"

Ironhide shrugged "Sure"

"Play your favorite song" Paige told him.

Ironhide looked down at her, "Why?" he asked.

"Casue I wanna know what sort of music you listen to" Paige said "Judging by your personality I would say rock" she said thoughtfully. Ironhide thought for a moment searching for a song that he liked, when he found one he turned on his radio and music began to play. Paige immediately recognized it as Simple Plan- When I'm Gone. She gave him the thumbs up and quietly sang along with the song.

_I look around me and all I seem to see is people going no where expecting sympathy. Its like were going through the motions of a scripted destiny. Tell me where's our inspiration. If life wont wait I guess its up to me. _

Ironhide watched the small human before him, she was swaying with the music and signing along softly. He turned out the music and listened to her voice. Its wasn't the prettiest voice he had ever heard, no her voice wasn't a singers voice, it was more of a bedroom voice. A voice used to whisper passionately through the darkness. Ironhide mentally slapped himself, he didn't like where his thoughts were going.

_We're not gonna waste another moment in this town. We wont come back the world is calling out. Leave the past in the past gonna find the future. If misery loves company, well so long, you'll miss me when I'm gone. _

It didn't feel strange to Paige to sing along, she liked to sing even though she knew she was no good. It was something to keep her occupied when in the shower or waiting for someone. She gave Ironhide a glance, he was staring at her with intense blue optics, she gave him a smile and continued to sing.

_Your gonna miss me when I'm gone_

_Procrastinating running circles in my head, while you sit there contemplating you wound up left for dead. Life is what happens when you're busy making your excuses. Another day another casualty but that wont happen to me. _

Ironhide knew he should be watching the monitor searching for Decepticons but how could any one expect him to pay attention to the monitor when he had such a lovely distraction. He liked Paige and he was certain the Paige liked him back. It was a good friendship he thought with a smile. 

_I wont look back when I say goodbye. Gonna leave this world behind me gonna take what's mine tonight. Because every wasted day becomes a wasted chance. Your gonna wake up feeling sorry. Cause life wont wait. I guess its up to you. _

When the song was done Paige gave him a shy smile "Well I was right about the rock thing" she said.

Ironhide wanting to learn more about her asked "What is your favorite song?"

Paige bit her bottom lip "Well…" she thought for a moment more and let out a small laugh "I don't really know, there are so many." she told him.

"Pick one" Ironhide told her.

"Alright… uhmm…. Celine Dion, I Drove All Night" Paige told him.

Ironhide did a quick search and suddenly the song began to play, he listened to it for a moment "you listen to chick music" he told her.

Paige shrugged "So?" She asked.

"I didn't peg you for a romantic" Ironhide said.

Paige blushed "I like a good love story" She said. "It lets me know that there are happy endings somewhere" they slipped into silence.

When the song was over Paige waved her hand "Your turn" she told him "pick a song" and Ironhide did so. The morning flew by as Paige kept Ironhide company, they would take turns picking songs listening and talking while they kept and eye on the monitor. Ironhide learned a lot about Paige's work and she in turn learned a lot about guns. Both kept the conversations light and happy and they stayed away from taking about their pasts.

They were in the middle of talking about one of Paige's experiences with a group in the photo gallery when Sam's voice cut in.

"Paige!" his head poked in the door way. Paige waved hello, "Got your mail" he held up a bunch of envelopes. Paige glanced at Ironhide and he got the silent message. He gently picked her up and set her on the floor. As usual he felt her tense when her feet left the ground, he was careful to put her down quickly. When she was on the floor she let out a relieved breath and regained her composure. Then she ran on over to Sam.

"Hey thanks for doing this for me" Paige said as she took the many envelopes.

"No problem" Sam winked at her "If you need anything else don't hesitate to ask" he told her.

"Thanks" Paige watched him leave and then walked to Ironhide's foot. There she sat down and prepared to read her mail. The first one was from her landlord. She opened it curiously, she read through the letter through frowned and read it again, and once more after the fifth time she had read it over she looked up and saw Ironhide looking at her with a concerned face.

"What's the matter?" he asked noticing how her light and happy mood had disappeared in an instant.

"I-I-I" Paige looked down at the letter in her hand, she had clenched her hand and the letter was all crinkled.

"Paige….?" Ironhide got off his chair and went to sit beside her; he gently took the letter out of her hands and held it up. He read it, "When it says evicted…?" he looked down for an explanation.

Paige took in a deep shuddering breath "I've been kicked out of my home" she told him.

"What?" Ironhide paused "What about your plants?" he asked.

Paige heaved a great big sigh "They will be taken away, most likely thrown out I think, or if they are lucky Mrs. Lucy next door will take them" she told him.

Ironhide didn't know what to say "I-I'm sorry Paige" he said.

Paige waved her hand "Its ok" she told him trying her best to see the bright side of things "The traffic was terrible over there. She laughed a harsh laugh.

"It says you haven't paid your rent…" Ironhide said.

Paige shook her head angrily "Yes I did!" she half shouted "I sent it to him in the mail"

"Then it got lost" Ironhide said.

Paige shook her head "That's the second time this week" Suddenly she gasped, she leaned forward and began to shift through her many letters when she found the right one she ripped it open and let out a low moan. "Damn mail man" she muttered, she crumpled up the letter and threw it over her shoulder. Ironhide knew he was invading her privacy but he picked up the letter all the same and carefully unfolded it. He read it and frowned.

"Your car was taken away.... because you didn't pay the bill" Ironhide told her.

"I sent it in the mail!" Paige insisted "I remember filling out a check and sending it in the mail! I even remember licking the damn postage stamp!" Paige let her head sink into her hands, "Why is this happening to me?" she moaned. Ironhide stayed silent not sure of what to do. After a moment Paige lifted her head, "It was a stupid car anyways" she said trying to look tough.

She picked up the next letter and saw it was from her library. Curious she ripped it open; she read it and let out a shout.

"Ah come on!" she shouted throwing the letter angrily on the ground.

"What now?" Ironhide asked.

"My library card has expired" Paige said, "That was the letter notifying me that my card is now useless" she paused "hang on a minute…" she shot up and ran out of the room, Ironhide looked after her debating if he should leave his duties to see what she was doing. But before he could decide Paige came storming back into the room holding her wallet. She opened it and dug out her library card. "I knew it!" she shouted waving her card around.

Ironhide looked puzzled "Knew what?" He asked.

"My card says it doesn't expire until three months from now" Paige told him.

Ironhide looked at the letter she had thrown on the floor "So this letter has a mistake" he said.

Paige nodded "Exactly!" she told him.

"Well" Ironhide said "Either the human society is terrible at keeping track of you and your life or some one is trying to get to you" Ironhide told her.

"What?" Paige looked up at him.

"Paige you cant possible believe that this is a coincidence" Ironhide gestured towards the rest of her unopened letters "I bet you all of these are letters of rejection" Paige's mouth dropped as she pieced it together. Silently she walked over to one and picked it up; it was a letter from her insurance company. She ripped it open and proceeded to read it. Once done she let out an angry yell.

"What the hell!" she shouted "Who is doing this!?" she angrily picked up another letter; this one was from the fitness club she went to. She read it and growled "Your member ship has expired" she said coarsely. She picked up another one "Expired" she yelled again as she ripped the letter apart. The last one was the one that set her off, it was from her work. Paige shakily opened it and when she saw the first few words she let out an angry cry, "Fired!" she yelled.

Ironhide watched as the small human before him began to tear through her letters in anger. Once all of the envelopes and letters of rejection had been destroyed and were laying in a pile around her did he say something.

"Paige you should talk to Optimus" he told her.

Paige was seething and wasn't thinking when she turned her anger onto him "and what is he gonna do? Pat my back offer me words that mean nothing" Paige stomped towards him "All of my troubles started when I met you, how do I know this isn't your fault!" she yelled. "What do you want with me!?" she shouted.

Ironhide growled "nothing Paige, I don't want anything from you. I swear to you did didn't do this" he got up and looked down at her. She was red in the face and her eyes blazed fiercely.

"I don't believe you!" she screeched "Who else but giant alien robots could have the technology to wipe my very life way like a calk board!"

Ironhide lost his temper, he hated being accused. In one motion he picked her up and held her close to his face "I told you I didn't do it!" he shouted.

Paige looked a little green in the face and she hung onto his hand for dear life, but her fear of heights did not stop her anger "Why don't you crush me and just finish the job?"

Ironhide knew she was afraid of the height she was at and immediately set her down on the floor, "I'm telling you for the last time" he told her using all of his self control "I would never do anything to hurt you" he said. Paige raised her hand, she looked like she was going to yell. But then after a moment of silence she sighed and let her hand drop.

"Take me home" she told him.

"W-What?" Ironhide frowned.

"Take me home, I've had enough of this" Paige crossed her arms "I'm gonna resume my normal life" she told him.

Ironhide didn't mean to make her more angry but he had to ask anyway "What life?" he asked, "you don't have a home nor do you have a job" he told her.

"Shut up!" Paige shouted "Just take me home!"

Ironhide was about to retort when Optimus walked in, "Is there a problem?" he asked. Paige couldn't talk, Optimus' presence was very overpowering and so she didn't say anything.

Ironhide noticed Paige's stance; she was biting her bottom lip looking away from both of the giant robots, "Sorry sir" Ironhide said "Paige is experiencing a crisis" he told him.

"Crisis…" Paige suddenly felt the need to laugh "my life has been erased" she said.

Optimus frowned "I don't understand" he said.

Paige laughed "Don't understand!" she laughed again, she looked on the verge of hysteria.

Ironhide sighed and stepped in front of the young woman, he faced Optimus and began to explain her current situation. After it was explained Optimus gently pushed Ironhide to the side and knelt down.

"Paige" he said softy.

Paige looked up at him; tears were running down her face "What?" she asked angrily.

"Paige, I can promise you that the Autobots had nothing to do with this" Optimus told her.

Paige wiped away her tears "then who did this to me?" she asked.

Optimus shook his head "I'm afraid I don't know" he told her.

Paige felt the need to sit down, so she did, "What am I going to do?" she asked.

Optimus gave her a gentle smile "you can stay with us until we can get your situation sorted out" he said, "We can promise you protection and proper shelter. You will be well taken care of" he said.

Paige nodded "Thank you Optimus." She turned to face Ironhide, she nervously wrung her hands and hung her head "I'm sorry Ironhide, I was just really frustrated…"

Ironhide shrugged "Its understandable. Your forgiven Paige"

Paige nodded "Thank you" she looked relieved. "I think I wanna eat something" the statement wasn't really directed at anyone so Optimus and Ironhide stayed silent as Paige left the room muttering to herself.

Ironhide turned to Optimus, "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" he asked.

Optimus nodded solemnly "Decepticons" he said simply.

Ironhide agreed with him "But what do they want with her?" he asked.

Optimus took a hold of Ironhide's shoulder "I don't know but I need you to protect her while the rest of us find out"

"Alright" Ironhide said.

"Ironhide, I think it best if Paige doesn't know about the Decepticons and their interest in her, that would only worry her more" Optimus said as he let go of the gunman's shoulder.

"Yes sir" Ironhide said. Optimus then turned and walked out of the room, off to try and research what he could on the matter. Ironhide turned back to the monitor and sighed- he was still on monitor duty.

Paige had raided the freezer and found a box of Rolo ice-cream, she gave off a grateful sigh and took out the whole box and stuck a really big spoon into it. Then she began to feast. But it wasn't enough, sure the Rolo ice-cream was a comfort but Paige wanted something to remind her of home. She thought of the garden and began to make her way to the giant elevator but when she reached the giant door way she realized she had no way to open it. With a sigh she was about to turn around when the elevator doors opened, gasping in surprise she whipped around and saw a pair of yellow legs. She angled her head upwards.

"Bumblebee!" she sounded surprised.

Bumblebee tilted his head as he stepped onto the elevator "Going down" he told her.

Paige took a deep breath and stepped onto it as well. On the way down she gobbled on her ice-cream trying to keep herself distracted. They reached the ground seconds later and Paige bounded off and went to sit in her little garden. Bumblebee observed the small human and went to sit next to her small garden.

They were silent for a long while, Paige was content to eat her ice-cream and Bumblebee was content just to sit there.

"I've read that humans, especially females, like to eat when they are sad" Bumblebee said after the long silence.

Paige shrugged "that's true" she told him with a mouthful of ice-cream.

"Wanna tell me why you are so sad?" Bumblebee asked. Paige looked at him for a moment and then sighed.

"Ok…" she said, and so she went on to tell him what happened. Bumblebee listened carefully not saying anything. Once she was done talking she took another giant bite of her ice-cream and waited for Bumblebee to say something.

'Well…." Bumblebee said after a moment "that certainly sucks" he said.

"Tell me about it" Paige muttered, she was happy she'd had someone to listen to her.

"But." Bumblebee said "you can count on us to take care of you" he told her.

"Thanks" Paige smiled up at him, "Ya know, Sam's a lucky guy"

Bumblebee tilted his head "Why's that?" he asked.

"You're a good guardian. And you listen" Paige told him.

"Aw, Ironhide isn't so bad" Bumblebee said.

Paige nodded "I like him a lot too" she said. "I guess I just got angry and lost control"

"With the situation your in, I think your reaction to be acceptable" Bumblebee said.

Paige shook her head "no it wasn't" she paused "I should go apologize to him again"

Bumblebee inclined his head "If you think it's necessary" he said.

"Necessary! Hell I blamed you guys for ruining my life" she put an ice-cream filled spoon in her mouth "I sunk real low" she murmured.

"Well here he comes" Bumblebee said "Now's your chance" Paige whipped her head towards the elevator which was descending; she hadn't even noticed it move off the ground.

Paige licked her lips "Ok…" she muttered. She waited for the elevator to reach the ground, when it did she stood up, as did Bumblebee.

Ironhide looked down and saw Paige's face smeared with ice-cream, he let off a low laugh "There you are" he said, "I was looking for you" he said.

"Y-you were" Paige stuttered.

Bumblebee leaned down and pressed a finger to the small of her back gently pushing her forward "go on" he told her "Say what you want to say"

"Ok…" Paige gulped and turned to Ironhide. His expression had changed, he was looking at her and Bumblebee with a suspicious look. Once again she licked her lips and took a hold of her neck. She opened her mouth and squeaked.

"Paige" Ironhide said crossing his arms "Are you ok?" he asked.

"S-sure" Paige didn't know why she felt so nervous, it was just an apology but yet she knew this really mattered to him and to her. "Ironhide look- I'm really sorry I didn't mean to yell at you I shouldn't have done that" she bowed her head, "I'm sorry" she said again.

Ironhide chuckled and knelt down, with a finger he lifted her chin so that she could look at him, "I already told you." He said "I forgive you" one of his optics blinked on and off and Paige knew he had winked at her.

Bumblebee patted Paige's shoulder lightly "See that wasn't so bad" he told her.

"Yeah" Paige said sounding breathless. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and saw the remains of ice-cream. "Aww come on, why didn't you guys tell me I had ice-cream on my face?" she looked up at them. Ironhide and Bumblebee laughed.

"You're a funny human" Ironhide told her.

Paige stuck out her tongue at him "Well I'm happy I am an amusement to you" she said. she walked over to the elevator and stepped onto it, when Bumblebee and Ironhide got on the elevator started and Paige found herself placing her hand on Ironhide's foot.

Starscream was pissed, more pissed than normal that is. Their searches for the human girl were to no avail, it seemed like she had disappeared into thin air. Now that she had no place to go he was sure that they would find her roaming the streets or seeking help, but her faint energy symbol had disappeared and that had pissed Starscream off.

He flew around put his scanners on high alert hoping for a faint trace of her, but like usual it was useless.

Fagging human!" he scowled "your lucky I have use for you cause when I find you I'll keep you alive… but only just" he said to himself.

"Barricade to Starscream" Barricades cool low voice cut into his thoughts.

"What!" he snapped.

"We have found the humans energy signal, I'm sending you the coordinates now" he said.

"Excellent, Stay where you are until I get there. Then we can take the human" Starscream said.

"Sir do you think the Autobots could have her?" Barricade asked. "She is in the middle of nowhere"

"Nonsense!" Starscream said "The Autobots know nothing about this human and therefore they do not have her" he cut out of the com link before Barricade could reply. He changed his course and snickered, boy that human was in for a surprise.


	7. Chapter 7

Paige had washed off all the ice-cream off her face in the kitchen sink, as she was walking out of the kitchen she had to step back as Optimus rushed past her. Curious she began to run after him. Then suddenly a ringing entered her ears and the base causing it to shake and making her loose her footing and tumble to the cool metal floor. Frightened she closed her eyes and covered her head with her arms and waited for those endless moments of shaking to end. When it did she shakily got to her feet and rushed towards the main part of the base where she saw the door to the monitor room open. She ran inside and saw the Autobots surrounding the monitor.

Ironhide was pointing to the screen and talking "I swear Optimus they just appeared out of nowhere"

"Alright, Ironhide You and I will go for Starscream and Bumblebee and Ratchet can take Barricade and Frenzy" Optimus turned and saw Paige staring up at them with wide eyes.

"What is happening?" she breathed fear evident from the tone of her voice.

Optimus gave Paige a sympathetic look and knelt down "Paige, the Decepticons are attacking the base" All of the colour drained out of her face "We will protect you" Optimus told her with a firm voice.

"O-Ok" Paige managed to say, she took in a deep breath and it out "What am I going to do?" she asked.

"You are going to stay in Ironhide's room; Sam will join you and you two will wait out the battle together" Optimus said.

"Ok" Paige glanced past Optimus and saw Ironhide she gave him a small smile and said "good luck" then without another word she rushed on over to Ironhide's room and curled up on the top of her bed just as another rumble hit the base.

Sam rushed into the room a few moments later, he saw Paige gripping her pillow tightly and staring at him with wide eyes.

"You ok?" he asked as he joined her on the bed.

"Sure" Paige said, she laughed "The base is falling apart and I'm in it" she laughed again. Sam looked at her warily, he tried to pry the pillow out of her hands but she wouldn't let go. Paige buried her face in the pillow but Sam could still heard what she was saying "My life sucks" she murmured. The base rumbled again and Paige let out a small squeak of surprise and jumped to her feet.

"Woah!" Sam tried to make a grab for her but Paige avoided him.

"It's falling apart!" Paige screamed in terror as another rumble quacked the base.

"No!" Sam made another grab for Paige but she was already scrambling for the door. "Paige!" Sam called in desperation "Come back"

"I gotta get outta here!" Paige yelled as she gripped her pillow tightly and ran for the entrance. The big door was closed but that did not stop Paige from running into it and pounding on the door. "Let me out, Let me out!" she screamed.

By this time Sam had caught up to her, acting quickly he grabbed her around the waist and began to drag her away from the door. Paige struggled a bit but in the end gave up. By the time she was back in Ironhide's room she had been reduced to a shaking and quivering mess.

Sam set her on the bed and grabbed her face with both of his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Paige" he spoke her name firmly "Paige, look at me" she did as she was told. "Paige listen. We. Are. Going. To. Be. Alright." He said it slowly so that she would get every word. "Do you understand?" Paige swallowed and nodded.

"Kay" she said whispered.

"Good" Sam let go of her face and offered her a thin smile. Paige wrapped her arms tighter around the poor pillow and observed Sam as he stood by the bed and acted as if nothing was happening.

"You look used to all of this" Paige murmured just loud enough for Sam to hear.

"Used to what?" Sam stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and turned his head to look at her.

"All this" Paige gestured as another rumble shook the base.

"Oh, the fighting?" Sam asked, he turned the rest of his body to face her.

"Yeah." Paige nodded.

"Yeah I'm used to it" Sam nodded. Paige was about to venture further into the topic when the sound of metal being ripped from hinges resounded through the base.

"What was that?" Paige tensed her body and held the pillow closer.

"Shhh…" Sam held up his hand and silently commanded silence, Paige complied and watched with wide eyes as Sam made his way towards the entrance of Ironhide's room. He poked his head out and Paige saw his shoulders slump, "Aw man" he murmured.

Sam saw a big silver robot in the entrance of the base, one he knew well. The robot regarded him and his features split into a horrific smile.

"Boy" the robot said gleefully "I will enjoy killing you"

"Uh-huh, I'm sure you would" Sam said nodding he backed up a bit and glanced towards the room in which Paige was sitting. She had frozen at the voice, that was an evil voice. She watched as Sam began to back up bit by bit. "So… Starscream" Sam began talking once more "May I ask you a question?"

"No…" Starscream said.

"Ok, so here it goes"

"I said no"

"How come you're attacking us?"

"That's easy" Starscream said "You have a girl here, a girl I want"

Sam frowned "girl?" he asked "What girl?"

Starscream laughed, "That won't work on me" he said, then he pointed to Ironhide's room "I want the one you have hiding in there" Sam sputtered for a moment, while Starscream laughed. Then everything went silent for a few seconds. Paige held onto her breath and clamped a hand over her mouth. Then chaos broke. Starscream lunged and as he was jumping past the door to Ironhide's room he used the opposite wall to propel himself sideways into the room. He rolled and landed on his feet. Paige watched him do all of this and then let out a loud terrified scream.

Starscream smiled again, oblivious to her screams "Ah" he said "There you are" he reached forward with a clawed hand and grabbed her around the middle. Paige was helpless to do anything, she hung limply in his hand and let out a low frightened moan. Starscream stepped out of the room and noticed that Sam was nowhere to be found.

"Oh well" he said cheerfully "I got what I came for" he began walking out of the base he jumped out of the entrance and propelled himself upward with his boosters. When he had reached the top of the cliff, he landed and with his free hand he fired off a few shots towards Optimus for good measure. While he was doing so he sent a com-link to Barricade and Frenzy telling them to prepare to retreat for they had what they came for. He was about to take off when he heard the whirring of a high powered gun and turned around an saw the blue energy of a ready to fire gun pressed against his head.

Paige was staring at the gun when she suddenly heard Ironhide's voice, "You have my human, Starscream, I want her back"

It didn't take Starscream long to decide what he wanted to do, with a growl he ducked and tried to run past him. Ironhide caught the motion and activated his other canon and shot Starscream point blank in the back. The Decepticon let out a metallic whine and fell to the ground. Paige let out at small scream as she felt the falling sensation, but Ironhide was quick and just as Starscream hit the ground Paige was out of his hand into Ironhide's.

"Got ya" Ironhide murmured as he took a few steps back from the larger robot.

As he was taking steps back there was a canon fire and shout of warning from behind. Ironhide whipped around and saw an oncoming shot, though Ironhide didn't have much agility he began a sidestep and was hit in the shoulder instead of the chest. He let out a groan as the shot tore through his circuitry and armor causing him to stumble back, trip and hit the ground hard. Paige to terrified to scream shut her eyes and prayed for it to end. There was another shot and Ironhide's middle was torn through, sending up shrapnel and other such items, they fell to the earth deadly projectiles. Paige covered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt a sharp pain in her arm and let out a scream. She felt her muscles and skin being flayed and torn. Yelling in agony Paige burrowed herself in Ironhide's unmoving hand. She lay there for a moment panting and trying to come to her senses but it was no use after a moment her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell unconscious.


End file.
